System and method for improving internet communication by using intermediate nodes

ABSTRACT

A method for fetching a content from a web server to a client device is disclosed, using tunnel devices serving as intermediate devices. The client device accesses an acceleration server to receive a list of available tunnel devices. The requested content is partitioned into slices, and the client device sends a request for the slices to the available tunnel devices. The tunnel devices in turn fetch the slices from the data server, and send the slices to the client device, where the content is reconstructed from the received slices. A client device may also serve as a tunnel device, serving as an intermediate device to other client devices. Similarly, a tunnel device may also serve as a client device for fetching content from a data server. The selection of tunnel devices to be used by a client device may be in the acceleration server, in the client device, or in both. The partition into slices may be overlapping or non-overlapping, and the same slice (or the whole content) may be fetched via multiple tunnel devices.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser.No. 15/663,762, filed on Jul. 30, 2017, which is a continuationapplication of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/930,894, filed on Nov. 3,2015 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,742,866), which is a divisional of U.S.application Ser. No. 14/468,836, filed on Aug. 26, 2014 (now U.S. Pat.No. 9,241,044), which claims priority from U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 61/870,815, filed on Aug. 28, 2013, all of which are herebyincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to an apparatus and method forimproving communication over the Internet by using intermediate nodes,and in particular, to using devices that may doubly function as anend-user and as an intermediate node.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in thissection are not prior art to the claims in this application and are notadmitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks thatuse the standardized Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP), includingTransmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), toserve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks thatconsists of millions of private, public, academic, business, andgovernment networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by abroad array of electronic and optical networking technologies. TheInternet carries a vast range of information resources and services,such as the interlinked hypertext documents on the World Wide Web (WWW)and the infrastructure to support electronic mail. The Internet backbonerefers to the principal data routes between large, strategicallyinterconnected networks and core routers in the Internet. These dataroutes are hosted by commercial, government, academic, and otherhigh-capacity network centers, the Internet exchange points and networkaccess points that interchange Internet traffic between the countries,continents and across the oceans of the world. Traffic interchangebetween Internet service providers (often Tier 1 networks) participatingin the Internet backbone exchange traffic by privately negotiatedinterconnection agreements, primarily governed by the principle ofsettlement-free peering.

The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the core protocols ofthe Internet protocol suite (IP) described in RFC 675 and RFC 793, andthe entire suite is often referred to as TCP/IP. TCP provides reliable,ordered and error-checked delivery of a stream of octets betweenprograms running on computers connected to a local area network,intranet or the public Internet. It resides at the transport layer. Webbrowsers typically use TCP when they connect to servers on the WorldWide Web, and used to deliver email and transfer files from one locationto another. HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, SSH, FTP, Telnet and avariety of other protocols that are typically encapsulated in TCP. Asthe transport layer of TCP/IP suite, the TCP provides a communicationservice at an intermediate level between an application program and theInternet Protocol (IP). Due to network congestion, traffic loadbalancing, or other unpredictable network behavior, IP packets can belost, duplicated, or delivered out of order. TCP detects these problems,requests retransmission of lost data, rearranges out-of-order data, andeven helps minimize network congestion to reduce the occurrence of theother problems. Once the TCP receiver has reassembled the sequence ofoctets originally transmitted, it passes them to the receivingapplication. Thus, TCP abstracts the application's communication fromthe underlying networking details. The TCP is utilized extensively bymany of the Internet's most popular applications, including the WorldWide Web (WWW), E-mail, File Transfer Protocol, Secure Shell,peer-to-peer file sharing, and some streaming media applications.

While IP layer handles actual delivery of the data, TCP keeps track ofthe individual units of data transmission, called segments, which amessage is divided into for efficient routing through the network. Forexample, when an HTML file is sent from a web server, the TCP softwarelayer of that server divides the sequence of octets of the file intosegments and forwards them individually to the IP software layer(Internet Layer). The Internet Layer encapsulates each TCP segment intoan IP packet by adding a header that includes (among other data) thedestination IP address. When the client program on the destinationcomputer receives them, the TCP layer (Transport Layer) reassembles theindividual segments and ensures they are correctly ordered and errorfree as it streams them to an application.

The TCP protocol operations may be divided into three phases.Connections must be properly established in a multi-step handshakeprocess (connection establishment) before entering the data transferphase. After data transmission is completed, the connection terminationcloses established virtual circuits and releases all allocatedresources. A TCP connection is typically managed by an operating systemthrough a programming interface that represents the local end-point forcommunications, the Internet socket. During the duration of a TCPconnection, the local end-point undergoes a series of state changes.

Since TCP/IP is based on the client/server model of operation, the TCPconnection setup involves the client and server preparing for theconnection by performing an OPEN operation. A client process initiates aTCP connection by performing an active OPEN, sending a SYN message to aserver. A server process using TCP prepares for an incoming connectionrequest by performing a passive OPEN. Both devices create for each TCPsession a data structure used to hold important data related to theconnection, called a Transmission Control Block (TCB).

There are two different kinds of OPEN, named ‘Active OPEN’ and ‘PassiveOPEN’. In Active OPEN the client process using TCP takes the “activerole” and initiates the connection by actually sending a TCP message tostart the connection (a SYN message). In Passive OPEN the server processdesigned to use TCP is contacting TCP and saying: “I am here, and I amwaiting for clients that may wish to talk to me to send me a message onthe following port number”. The OPEN is called passive because asidefrom indicating that the process is listening, the server process doesnothing. A passive OPEN can in fact specify that the server is waitingfor an active OPEN from a specific client, though not all TCP/IP APIssupport this capability. More commonly, a server process is willing toaccept connections from all corners. Such a passive OPEN is said to beunspecified.

In passive OPEN, the TCP uses a three-way handshake, and before a clientattempts to connect with a server, the server must first bind to andlisten at a port to open it up for connections. Once the Passive OPEN isestablished, a client may initiate an Active OPEN. To establish aconnection, the three-way (or 3-step) handshake occurs:

-   -   1. SYN: The active open is performed by the client sending a SYN        to the server. The client sets the segment's sequence number to        a random value A.    -   2. SYN-ACK: In response, the server replies with a SYN-ACK. The        acknowledgment number is set to one more than the received        sequence number, i.e. A+1, and the sequence number that the        server chooses for the packet is another random number, B.    -   3. ACK: Finally, the client sends an ACK back to the server. The        sequence number is set to the received acknowledgement value,        i.e. A+1, and the acknowledgement number is set to one more than        the received sequence number i.e. B+1.

At this point, both the client and server have received anacknowledgment of the connection. The steps 1, 2 establish theconnection parameter (sequence number) for one direction and it isacknowledged. The steps 2, 3 establish the connection parameter(sequence number) for the other direction and it is acknowledged, andthen a full-duplex communication is established.

The Internet Protocol (IP) is the principal communications protocol usedfor relaying datagrams (packets) across a network using the InternetProtocol Suite. Responsible for routing packets across networkboundaries, it is the primary protocol that establishes the Internet. IPis the primary protocol in the Internet Layer of the Internet ProtocolSuite and has the task of delivering datagrams from the source host tothe destination host based on their addresses. For this purpose, IPdefines addressing methods and structures for datagram encapsulation.Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) is the dominant protocol of theInternet. IPv4 is described in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)Request for Comments (RFC) 791 and RFC 1349, and the successor, InternetProtocol Version 6 (IPv6), is currently active and in growing deploymentworldwide. IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses (providing 4 billion: 4.3×10⁹addresses), while IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses (providing 340 undecillionor 3.4×10³⁸ addresses), as described in RFC 2460.

An overview of an IP-based packet 15 is shown in FIG. 2a . The packetmay be generally segmented into the IP data 16 b to be carried aspayload, and the IP header 16 f. The IP header 16 f contains the IPaddress of the source as Source IP Address field 16 d and theDestination IP Address field 16 c. In most cases, the IP header 16 f andthe payload 16 b are further encapsulated by adding a Frame Header 16 eand Frame Footer 16 a used by higher layer protocols.

The Internet Protocol is responsible for addressing hosts and routingdatagrams (packets) from a source host to the destination host acrossone or more IP networks. For this purpose the Internet Protocol definesan addressing system that has two functions. Addresses identify hostsand provide a logical location service. Each packet is tagged with aheader that contains the meta-data for the purpose of delivery. Thisprocess of tagging is also called encapsulation. IP is a connectionlessprotocol for use in a packet-switched Link Layer network, and does notneed circuit setup prior to transmission. The aspects of guaranteeingdelivery, proper sequencing, avoidance of duplicate delivery, and dataintegrity are addressed by an upper transport layer protocol (e.g.,TCP—Transmission Control Protocol and UDP—User Datagram Protocol).

The main aspects of the IP technology are IP addressing and routing.Addressing refers to how IP addresses are assigned to end hosts and howsub-networks of IP host addresses are divided and grouped together. IProuting is performed by all hosts, but most importantly by internetworkrouters, which typically use either Interior Gateway Protocols (IGPs) orExternal Gateway Protocols (EGPs) to help make IP datagram forwardingdecisions across IP connected networks. Core routers serving in theInternet backbone commonly use the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) as perRFC 4098 or Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). Other prior artpublications relating to Internet related protocols and routing includethe following chapters of the publication number 1-587005-001-3 by CiscoSystems, Inc. (July 1999) entitled: “Internetworking TechnologiesHandbook”, which are all incorporated in their entirety for all purposesas if fully set forth herein: Chapter 5: “Routing Basics” (pages 5-1 to5-10), Chapter 30: “Internet Protocols” (pages 30-1 to 30-16), Chapter32: “IPv6” (pages 32-1 to 32-6), Chapter 45: “OSI Routing” (pages 45-1to 45-8) and Chapter 51: “Security” (pages 51-1 to 51-12), as well as ina IBM Corporation, International Technical Support Organization RedbookDocuments No. GG24-4756-00, entitled: “Local area Network Concepts andProducts: LAN Operation Systems and management”, 1st Edition May 1996,Redbook Document No. GG24-4338-00, entitled: “Introduction to NetworkingTechnologies”, 1^(st) Edition April 1994, Redbook Document No.GG24-2580-01 “IP Network Design Guide”, 2^(nd) Edition June 1999, andRedbook Document No. GG24-3376-07 “TCP/IP Tutorial and TechnicalOverview”, ISBN 0738494682 8^(th) Edition December 2006, which areincorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein.

An Internet packet typically includes a value of Time-to-live (TTL) foravoiding the case of packet looping endlessly. The initial TTL value isset in the header of the packet, and each router in the packet pathsubtracts one from the TTL field, and the packet is discarded upon thevalue exhaustion. Since the packets may be routed via different anddisparately located routers and servers, the TTL of the packets reachingthe ultimate destination computer are expected to vary.

The Internet architecture employs a client-server model, among otherarrangements. The terms ‘server’ or ‘server computer’ relates herein toa device or computer (or a plurality of computers) connected to theInternet and is used for providing facilities or services to othercomputers or other devices (referred to in this context as ‘clients’)connected to the Internet. A server is commonly a host that has an IPaddress and executes a ‘server program’, and typically operates as asocket listener. Many servers have dedicated functionality such as webserver, Domain Name System (DNS) server (described in RFC 1034 and RFC1035), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server (described inRFC 2131 and RFC 3315), mail server, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) serverand database server. Similarly, the term ‘client’ is used herein toinclude, but not limited to, a program or to a device or a computer (ora series of computers) executing this program, which accesses a serverover the Internet for a service or a resource. Clients commonly initiateconnections that a server may accept. For non-limiting example, webbrowsers are clients that connect to web servers for retrieving webpages, and email clients connect to mail storage servers for retrievingmails.

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application protocol fordistributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems, commonlyused for communication over the Internet. Hypertext is. HTTP is theprotocol to exchange or transfer hypertext, which is a structured textthat uses logical links (hyperlinks) between nodes containing text. HTTPversion 1.1 was standardized as RFC 2616 (June 1999), which was replacedby a set of standards (obsoleting RFC 2616), including RFC7230—HTTP/1.1: Message Syntax and Routing, RFC 7231—HTTP/1.1: Semanticsand Content, RFC 7232—HTTP/1.1: Conditional Requests, RFC 7233—HTTP/1.1:Range Requests, RFC 7234—HTTP/1.1: Caching, and RFC 7235—HTTP/1.1:Authentication. HTTP functions as a request-response protocol in theclient-server computing model. A web browser, for example, may be theclient and an application running on a computer hosting a website may bethe server. The client submits an HTTP request message to the server.The server, which provides resources such as HTML files and othercontent, or performs other functions on behalf of the client, returns aresponse message to the client. The response contains completion statusinformation about the request and may also contain requested content inits message body. A web browser is an example of a user agent (UA).Other types of user agent include the indexing software used by searchproviders (web crawlers), voice browsers, mobile apps and other softwarethat accesses, consumes or displays web content.

HTTP is designed to permit intermediate network elements to improve orenable communications between clients and servers. High-traffic websitesoften benefit from web cache servers that deliver content on behalf ofupstream servers to improve response time. Web browsers cache previouslyaccessed web resources and reuse them when possible, to reduce networktraffic. HTTP proxy servers at private network boundaries can facilitatecommunication for clients without a globally routable address, byrelaying messages with external servers. HTTP is an application layerprotocol designed within the framework of the Internet Protocol Suite.Its definition presumes an underlying and reliable transport layerprotocol, and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is commonly used.However, HTTP can use unreliable protocols such as the User DatagramProtocol (UDP), for example, in the Simple Service Discovery Protocol(SSDP). HTTP resources are identified and located on the network byUniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) or, more specifically, UniformResource Locators (URLs), using the http or https URI schemes. URIs andhyperlinks in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) documents form webs ofinter-linked hypertext documents. An HTTP session is a sequence ofnetwork request-response transactions. An HTTP client initiates arequest by establishing a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connectionto a particular port on a server. An HTTP server listening on that portwaits for a client's request message. Upon receiving the request, theserver sends back a status line, such as “HTTP/1.1 200 OK”, and amessage of its own. The body of this message is typically the requestedresource, although an error message or other information may also bereturned. HTTP is a stateless protocol. A stateless protocol does notrequire the HTTP server to retain information or status

HTTP persistent connection, also called HTTP keep-alive, or HTTPconnection reuse, refers to using a single TCP connection to send andreceive multiple HTTP requests/responses, as opposed to opening a newconnection for every single request/response pair. Persistentconnections provide a mechanism by which a client and a server cansignal the close of a TCP connection. This signaling takes place usingthe Connection header field. The HTTP persistent connection is describedin IETF RFC 2616, entitled: “Hypertext Transfer Protocol—HTTP/1.1”. InHTTP 1.1, all connections are considered persistent unless declaredotherwise. The HTTP persistent connections do not use separate keepalivemessages, but they allow multiple requests to use a single connection.The advantages of using persistent connections involve lower CPU andmemory usage (because fewer connections are open simultaneously),enabling HTTP pipelining of requests and responses, reduced networkcongestion (due to fewer TCP connections), and reduced latency insubsequent requests (due to minimal handshaking). Any connection hereinmay use, or be based on, an HTTP persistent connection.

An Operating System (OS) is software that manages computer hardwareresources and provides common services for computer programs. Theoperating system is an essential component of any system software in acomputer system, and most application programs usually require anoperating system to function. For hardware functions such as input andoutput and memory allocation, the operating system acts as anintermediary between programs and the computer hardware, although theapplication code is usually executed directly by the hardware and willfrequently make a system call to an OS function or be interrupted by it.Common features typically supported by operating systems include processmanagement, interrupts handling, memory management, file system, devicedrivers, networking (such as TCP/IP and UDP), and Input/Output (I/O)handling. Examples of popular modern operating systems include Android,BSD, iOS, Linux, OS X, QNX, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, and IBMz/OS.

A server device (in server/client architecture) typically offersinformation resources, services, and applications to clients, and isusing a server dedicated or oriented operating system. Current popularserver operating systems are based on Microsoft Windows (by MicrosoftCorporation, headquartered in Redmond, Wash., U.S.A.), Unix, andLinux-based solutions, such as the ‘Windows Server 2012’ serveroperating system is part of the Microsoft ‘Windows Server’ OS family,that was released by Microsoft on 2012, providing enterprise-classdatacenter and hybrid cloud solutions that are simple to deploy,cost-effective, application-focused, and user-centric, and is describedin Microsoft publication entitled: “Inside-Out Windows Server 2012”, byWilliam R. Stanek, published 2013 by Microsoft Press, which isincorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein.

Unix operating systems are widely used in servers. Unix is amultitasking, multiuser computer operating system that exists in manyvariants, and is characterized by a modular design that is sometimescalled the “Unix philosophy,” meaning the OS provides a set of simpletools that each perform a limited, well-defined function, with a unifiedfilesystem as the main means of communication, and a shell scripting andcommand language to combine the tools to perform complex workflows. Unixwas designed to be portable, multi-tasking and multi-user in atime-sharing configuration, and Unix systems are characterized byvarious concepts: the use of plain text for storing data; a hierarchicalfile system; treating devices and certain types of Inter-ProcessCommunication (IPC) as files; and the use of a large number of softwaretools, small programs that can be strung together through a command lineinterpreter using pipes, as opposed to using a single monolithic programthat includes all of the same functionality. Under Unix, the operatingsystem consists of many utilities along with the master control program,the kernel. The kernel provides services to start and stop programs,handles the file system and other common “low level” tasks that mostprograms share, and schedules access to avoid conflicts when programstry to access the same resource or device simultaneously. To mediatesuch access, the kernel has special rights, reflected in the divisionbetween user-space and kernel-space. Unix is described in a publicationentitled: “UNIX Tutorial” by tutorialspoint.com, downloaded on July2014, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fullyset forth herein.

A client device (in server/client architecture) typically receivesinformation resources, services, and applications from servers, and isusing a client dedicated or oriented operating system. Current popularserver operating systems are based on Microsoft Windows (by MicrosoftCorporation, headquartered in Redmond, Wash., U.S.A.), which is a seriesof graphical interface operating systems developed, marketed, and soldby Microsoft. Microsoft Windows is described in Microsoft publicationsentitled: “Windows Internals—Part 1” and “Windows Internals—Part 2”, byMark Russinovich, David A. Solomon, and Alex Ioescu, published byMicrosoft Press in 2012, which are both incorporated in their entiretyfor all purposes as if fully set forth herein. Windows 8 is a personalcomputer operating system developed by Microsoft as part of Windows NTfamily of operating systems, that was released for general availabilityon October 2012, and is described in Microsoft Press 2012 publicationentitled: “Introducing Windows 8—An Overview for IT Professionals” byJerry Honeycutt, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposesas if fully set forth herein.

Chrome OS is a Linux kernel-based operating system designed by GoogleInc. out of Mountain View, Calif., U.S.A., to work primarily with webapplications. The user interface takes a minimalist approach andconsists almost entirely of just the Google Chrome web browser; sincethe operating system is aimed at users who spend most of their computertime on the Web, the only “native” applications on Chrome OS are abrowser, media player and file manager, and hence the Chrome OS isalmost a pure web thin client OS.

The Chrome OS is described as including a three-tier architecture:firmware, browser and window manager, and system-level software anduserland services. The firmware contributes to fast boot time by notprobing for hardware, such as floppy disk drives, that are no longercommon on computers, especially netbooks. The firmware also contributesto security by verifying each step in the boot process and incorporatingsystem recovery. The system-level software includes the Linux kernelthat has been patched to improve boot performance. The userland softwarehas been trimmed to essentials, with management by Upstart, which canlaunch services in parallel, re-spawn crashed jobs, and defer servicesin the interest of faster booting. The Chrome OS user guide is describedin the Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. presentation entitled: “Google™Chrome OS USER GUIDE” published 2011, which is incorporated in itsentirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

A mobile operating system (also referred to as mobile OS), is anoperating system that operates a smartphone, tablet, PDA, or othermobile device. Modern mobile operating systems combine the features of apersonal computer operating system with other features, including atouchscreen, cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS mobile navigation, camera,video camera, speech recognition, voice recorder, music player, nearfield communication and infrared blaster. Currently popular mobile OSare Android, Symbian, Apple iOS, BlackBerry, MeeGo, Windows Phone, andBada. Mobile devices with mobile communications capabilities (e.g.smartphones) typically contain two mobile operating systems—the mainuser-facing software platform is supplemented by a second low-levelproprietary real-time operating system which operates the radio andother hardware.

Android is an open source and Linux-based mobile operating system (OS)based on the Linux kernel that is currently offered by Google. With auser interface based on direct manipulation, Android is designedprimarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tabletcomputers, with specialized user interfaces for televisions (AndroidTV), cars (Android Auto), and wrist watches (Android Wear). The OS usestouch inputs that loosely correspond to real-world actions, such asswiping, tapping, pinching, and reverse pinching to manipulate on-screenobjects, and a virtual keyboard. Despite being primarily designed fortouchscreen input, it also has been used in game consoles, digitalcameras, and other electronics. The response to user input is designedto be immediate and provides a fluid touch interface, often using thevibration capabilities of the device to provide haptic feedback to theuser. Internal hardware such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and proximitysensors are used by some applications to respond to additional useractions, for example adjusting the screen from portrait to landscapedepending on how the device is oriented, or allowing the user to steer avehicle in a racing game by rotating the device, simulating control of asteering wheel.

Android devices boot to the homescreen, the primary navigation andinformation point on the device, which is similar to the desktop foundon PCs. Android homescreens are typically made up of app icons andwidgets; app icons launch the associated app, whereas widgets displaylive, auto-updating content such as the weather forecast, the user'semail inbox, or a news ticker directly on the homescreen. A homescreenmay be made up of several pages that the user can swipe back and forthbetween, though Android's homescreen interface is heavily customizable,allowing the user to adjust the look and feel of the device to theirtastes. Third-party apps available on Google Play and other app storescan extensively re-theme the homescreen, and even mimic the look ofother operating systems, such as Windows Phone. The Android OS isdescribed in a publication entitled: “Android Tutorial”, downloaded fromtutorialspoint.com on July 2014, which is incorporated in its entiretyfor all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

iOS (previously iPhone OS) from Apple Inc. (headquartered in Cupertino,Calif., U.S.A.) is a mobile operating system distributed exclusively forApple hardware. The user interface of the iOS is based on the concept ofdirect manipulation, using multi-touch gestures. Interface controlelements consist of sliders, switches, and buttons. Interaction with theOS includes gestures such as swipe, tap, pinch, and reverse pinch, allof which have specific definitions within the context of the iOSoperating system and its multi-touch interface. Internal accelerometersare used by some applications to respond to shaking the device (onecommon result is the undo command) or rotating it in three dimensions(one common result is switching from portrait to landscape mode). TheiOS is described in the publication entitled: “IOS Tutorial”, downloadedfrom tutorialspoint.com on July 2014, which is incorporated in itsentirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

Operating Systems:

An Operating System (OS) is software that manages computer hardwareresources and provides common services for computer programs. Theoperating system is an essential component of any system software in acomputer system, and most application programs usually require anoperating system to function. For hardware functions such as input andoutput and memory allocation, the operating system acts as anintermediary between programs and the computer hardware, although theapplication code is usually executed directly by the hardware and willfrequently make a system call to an OS function or be interrupted by it.Common features typically supported by operating systems include processmanagement, interrupts handling, memory management, file system, devicedrivers, networking (such as TCP/IP and UDP), and Input/Output (I/O)handling. Examples of popular modern operating systems include Android,BSD, iOS, Linux, OS X, QNX, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone, and IBMz/OS.

Process Management:

The operating system provides an interface between an applicationprogram and the computer hardware, so that an application program caninteract with the hardware only by obeying rules and proceduresprogrammed into the operating system. The operating system is also a setof services which simplify development and execution of applicationprograms. Executing an application program involves the creation of aprocess by the operating system kernel which assigns memory space andother resources, establishes a priority for the process in multi-taskingsystems, loads program binary code into memory, and initiates executionof the application program which then interacts with the user and withhardware devices. The OS must allocate resources to processes, enableprocesses to share and exchange information, protect the resources ofeach process from other processes, and enable synchronization amongprocesses. The OS maintains a data structure for each process, whichdescribes the state and resource ownership of that process, and whichenables the OS to exert control over each process.

In many modern operating systems, there can be more than one instance ofa program loaded in memory at the same time; for example, more than oneuser could be executing the same program, each user having separatecopies of the program loaded into memory. With some programs, known asre-entrant type, it is possible to have one copy loaded into memory,while several users have shared access to it so that they each canexecute the same program-code. The processor at any instant can only beexecuting one instruction from one program but several processes can besustained over a period of time by assigning each process to theprocessor at intervals while the remainder become temporarily inactive.A number of processes being executed over a period of time instead of atthe same time is called concurrent execution. A multiprogramming ormultitasking OS is a system executing many processes concurrently. Amultiprogramming requires that the processor be allocated to eachprocess for a period of time, and de-allocated at an appropriate moment.If the processor is de-allocated during the execution of a process, itmust be done in such a way that it can be restarted later as easily aspossible.

There are two typical ways for an OS to regain control of the processorduring a program's execution in order for the OS to performde-allocation or allocation: The process issues a system call (sometimescalled a software interrupt); for example, an I/O request occursrequesting to access a file on hard disk. Alternatively, a hardwareinterrupt occurs; for example, a key was pressed on the keyboard, or atimer runs out (used in pre-emptive multitasking). The stopping of oneprocess and starting (or restarting) of another process is called acontext switch or context change. In many modern operating systems,processes can consist of many sub-processes. This introduces the conceptof a thread. A thread may be viewed as a sub-process; that is, aseparate, independent sequence of execution within the code of oneprocess. Threads are becoming increasingly important in the design ofdistributed and client-server systems and in software run onmulti-processor systems.

Modes:

Many contemporary processors incorporate a mode bit to define theexecution capability of a program in the processor. This bit can be setto a kernel mode or a user mode. A kernel mode is also commonly referredto as supervisor mode, monitor mode or ring 0. In kernel mode, theprocessor can execute every instruction in its hardware repertoire,whereas in user mode, it can only execute a subset of the instructions.Instructions that can be executed only in kernel mode are called kernel,privileged or protected instructions to distinguish them from the usermode instructions. For example, I/O instructions are privileged. So, ifan application program executes in user mode, it cannot perform its ownI/O, and must request the OS to perform I/O on its behalf. The systemmay logically extend the mode bit to define areas of memory to be usedwhen the processor is in kernel mode versus user mode. If the mode bitis set to kernel mode, the process executing in the processor can accesseither the kernel or user partition of the memory. However, if user modeis set, the process can reference only the user memory space, hence twoclasses of memory are defined, the user space and the system space (orkernel, supervisor or protected space). In general, the mode bit extendsthe operating system's protection rights, and is set by the user modetrap instruction, also called a supervisor call instruction. Thisinstruction sets the mode bit, and branches to a fixed location in thesystem space. Since only the system code is loaded in the system space,only the system code can be invoked via a trap. When the OS hascompleted the supervisor call, it resets the mode bit to user mode priorto the return.

Computer operating systems provide different levels of access toresources, and these hierarchical protection domains are often referredto as ‘protection rings’, and are used to protect data and functionalityfrom faults (by improving fault tolerance) and malicious behaviour (byproviding computer security). A protection ring is one of two or morehierarchical levels or layers of privilege within the architecture of acomputer system. These levels may be hardware-enforced by some CPUarchitectures that provide different CPU modes at the hardware ormicrocode level. Rings are arranged in a hierarchy from most privileged(most trusted, usually numbered zero) to least privileged (leasttrusted, usually with the highest ring number). On most operatingsystems, kernel mode or ‘Ring 0’ is the level with the most privilegesand interacts most directly with the physical hardware such as the CPUand memory. Special gates between rings are provided to allow an outerring to access an inner ring's resources in a predefined manner, asopposed to allowing arbitrary usage. Correctly gating access betweenrings can improve security by preventing programs from one ring orprivilege level from misusing resources intended for programs inanother. For example, spyware running as a user program in Ring 3 shouldbe prevented from turning on a web camera without informing the user,since hardware access should be a Ring 1 function reserved for devicedrivers. Programs such as web browsers running in higher numbered ringsmust request access to the network, a resource restricted to a lowernumbered ring.

Kernel:

With the aid of the firmware and device drivers, the kernel provides themost basic level of control over all of the computer's hardware devices.It manages memory access for programs in the RAM, it determines whichprograms get access to which hardware resources, it sets up or resetsthe CPU's operating states for optimal operation at all times, and itorganizes the data for long-term non-volatile storage with file systemson such media as disks, tapes, flash memory, etc. The part of the systemexecuting in kernel supervisor state is called the kernel, or nucleus,of the operating system. The kernel operates as trusted software,meaning that when it was designed and implemented, it was intended toimplement protection mechanisms that could not be covertly changedthrough the actions of untrusted software executing in user space.Extensions to the OS execute in user mode, so the OS does not rely onthe correctness of those parts of the system software for correctoperation of the OS. Hence, a fundamental design decision for anyfunction to be incorporated into the OS is whether it needs to beimplemented in the kernel. If it is implemented in the kernel, it willexecute in kernel (supervisor) space, and have access to other parts ofthe kernel. It will also be trusted software by the other parts of thekernel. If the function is implemented to execute in user mode, it willhave no access to kernel data structures.

There are two techniques by which a program executing in user mode canrequest the kernel's services, namely ‘System call’ and ‘Messagepassing’. Operating systems are typically with one or the other of thesetwo facilities, but commonly not both. Assuming that a user processwishes to invoke a particular target system function, in the system callapproach, the user process uses the trap instruction, so the system callshould appear to be an ordinary procedure call to the applicationprogram; the OS provides a library of user functions with namescorresponding to each actual system call. Each of these stub functionscontains a trap to the OS function, and when the application programcalls the stub, it executes the trap instruction, which switches the CPUto kernel mode, and then branches (indirectly through an OS table), tothe entry point of the function which is to be invoked. When thefunction completes, it switches the processor to user mode and thenreturns control to the user process; thus simulating a normal procedurereturn. In the message passing approach, the user process constructs amessage, that describes the desired service, and then it uses a trustedsend function to pass the message to a trusted OS process. The sendfunction serves the same purpose as the trap; that is, it carefullychecks the message, switches the processor to kernel mode, and thendelivers the message to a process that implements the target functions.Meanwhile, the user process waits for the result of the service requestwith a message receive operation. When the OS process completes theoperation, it sends a message back to the user process.

Interrupts Handling:

Interrupts are central to operating systems, as they provide anefficient way for the operating system to interact with and react to itsenvironment. Interrupts are typically handled by the operating system'skernel, and provide a computer with a way of automatically saving localregister contexts, and running specific code in response to events. Whenan interrupt is received, the computer's hardware automatically suspendswhatever program is currently running, saves its status, and runscomputer code previously associated with the interrupt. When a hardwaredevice triggers an interrupt, the operating system's kernel decides howto deal with this event, generally by running some processing code. Theamount of code being run depends on the priority of the interrupt, andthe processing of hardware interrupts is executed by a device driver,which may be either part of the operating system's kernel, part ofanother program, or both. Device drivers may then relay information to arunning program by various means. A program may also trigger aninterrupt to the operating system. For example, if a program wishes toaccess an hardware (such as a peripheral), it may interrupt theoperating system's kernel, which causes control to be passed back to thekernel. The kernel will then process the request. If a program wishesadditional resources (or wishes to shed resources) such as memory, itwill trigger an interrupt to get the kernel's attention. Each interrupthas its own interrupt handler. The number of hardware interrupts islimited by the number of interrupt request (IRQ) lines to the processor,but there may be hundreds of different software interrupts. Interruptsare a commonly used technique for computer multitasking, especially inreal-time computing systems, which are commonly referred to asinterrupt-driven systems.

Memory Management:

A multiprogramming operating system kernel is responsible for managingall system memory which is currently in use by programs, ensuring that aprogram does not interfere with memory already in use by anotherprogram. Since programs time share, each program must have independentaccess to memory. Memory protection enables the kernel to limit aprocess' access to the computer's memory. Various methods of memoryprotection exist, including memory segmentation and paging. In bothsegmentation and paging, certain protected mode registers specify to theCPU what memory address it should allow a running program to access.Attempts to access other addresses will trigger an interrupt which willcause the CPU to re-enter supervisor mode, placing the kernel in charge.This is called a segmentation violation (or Seg-V), and the kernel willgenerally resort to terminating the offending program, and will reportthe error.

Memory management further provides ways to dynamically allocate portionsof memory to programs at their request, and free it for reuse when nolonger needed. This is critical for any advanced computer system wheremore than a single process might be underway at any time. Severalmethods have been devised that increase the effectiveness of memorymanagement. Virtual memory systems separate the memory addresses used bya process from actual physical addresses, allowing separation ofprocesses and increasing the effectively available amount of RAM usingpaging or swapping to secondary storage. The quality of the virtualmemory manager can have an extensive effect on overall systemperformance.

File System:

Commonly a file system (or filesystem) is used to control how data isstored and retrieved. By separating the data into individual pieces, andgiving each piece a name, the information is easily separated andidentified, where each piece of data is called a “file”. The structureand logic rules used to manage the groups of information and their namesis called a “file system”. There are many different kinds of filesystems. Each one has a different structure and logic, properties ofspeed, flexibility, security, size and more. Some file systems have beendesigned to be used for specific applications. For example, the ISO 9660file system is designed specifically for optical discs. File systems canbe used on many different kinds of storage devices. Some file systemsare used on local data storage devices; others provide file access via anetwork protocol (for example, NFS, SMB, or 9P clients). Some filesystems are “virtual”, in that the “files” supplied are computed onrequest (e.g. procfs) or are merely a mapping into a different filesystem used as a backing store. The file system manages access to boththe content of files and the metadata about those files. It isresponsible for arranging storage space; reliability, efficiency, andtuning with regard to the physical storage medium are important designconsiderations.

A disk file system takes advantages of the ability of disk storage mediato randomly address data in a short amount of time. Additionalconsiderations include the speed of accessing data following thatinitially requested and the anticipation that the following data mayalso be requested. This permits multiple users (or processes) access tovarious data on the disk without regard to the sequential location ofthe data. Examples include FAT (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32), exFAT, NTFS, HFSand HFS+, HPFS, UFS, ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS, btrfs, ISO 9660, Files-11,Veritas File System, VMFS, ZFS, ReiserFS and UDF. Some disk file systemsare journaling file systems or versioning file systems.

TMPFS.

TMPFS (or tmpfs) is a common name for a temporary file storage facilityon many Unix-like operating systems. While intended to appear as amounted file system, it is stored in volatile memory instead of anon-volatile storage device. A similar construction is a RAM disk, whichappears as a virtual disk drive and hosts a disk file system. The tmpfsis typically a file system based on SunOS virtual memory resources,which does not use traditional non-volatile media to store file data;instead, tmpfs files exist solely in virtual memory maintained by theUNIX kernel. Because tmpfs file systems do not use dedicated physicalmemory for file data, but instead use VM system resources andfacilities, they can take advantage of kernel resource managementpolicies. Tmpfs is designed primarily as a performance enhancement toallow short-lived files to be written and accessed without generatingdisk or network I/O. Tmpfs maximizes file manipulation speed whilepreserving UNIX file semantics. It does not require dedicated disk spacefor files and has no negative performance impact. The tmpfs is describedin a Sun Microsystem Inc. paper entitled: “tmpfs: A Virtual Memory FileSystem” by Peter Snyder, downloaded on July 2014, which is incorporatedin its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

Device Drivers:

A device driver is a specific type of computer software developed toallow interaction with hardware devices. Typically, this constitutes aninterface for communicating with the device, through the specificcomputer bus or communications subsystem that the hardware is connectedto, providing commands to and/or receiving data from the device, and onthe other end, the requisite interfaces to the operating system andsoftware applications. It is a specialized hardware-dependent computerprogram which is also operating system specific that enables anotherprogram, typically an operating system or applications software packageor computer program running under the operating system kernel, tointeract transparently with a hardware device, and usually provides therequisite interrupt handling necessary for any necessary asynchronoustime-dependent hardware interfacing needs.

Networking:

Most operating systems support a variety of networking protocols,hardware, and applications for using them, allowing computers runningdissimilar operating systems to participate in a common network, forsharing resources such as computing, files, printers, and scanners,using either wired or wireless connections. Networking can essentiallyallow a computer's operating system to access the resources of a remotecomputer, to support the same functions as it could if those resourceswere connected directly to the local computer. This includes everythingfrom simple communication, to using networked file systems, or sharinganother computer's graphics or sound hardware. Some network servicesallow the resources of a computer to be accessed transparently, such asSSH, which allows networked users direct access to a computer's commandline interface. A client/server networking allows a program on acomputer, called a client, to connect via a network to another computer,called a server. Servers offer (or host) various services to othernetwork computers and users. These services are usually provided throughports or numbered access points beyond the server's network address.Each port number is usually associated with a maximum of one runningprogram, which is responsible for handling requests to that port. Adaemon, being a user program, can in turn access the local hardwareresources of that computer by passing requests to the operating systemkernel.

Input/Output (I/O) Handling:

An input/output (or I/O) is the communication between an informationprocessing system (such as a computer) and the outside world, possibly ahuman or other information processing system. The inputs are typicallythe signals or data received by the system, and the outputs are thesignals or data sent from it. I/O devices may be used by a person (orother system) to communicate with a computer. For instance, a keyboardor a mouse may be an input device for a computer, while monitors andprinters are considered output devices for a computer. Devices forcommunication between computers, such as modems and network cards,typically serve for both input and output.

User Interface:

Every computer that is to be operated by a human being requires a userinterface, usually referred to as a ‘shell’, and is essential if humaninteraction is to be supported. The user interface views the directorystructure and requests services from the operating system that willacquire data from input hardware devices, such as a keyboard, mouse orcredit card reader, and requests operating system services to displayprompts, status messages and such on output hardware devices, such as avideo monitor or printer. The two most common forms of a user interfacehave historically been the command-line interface, where computercommands are typed out line-by-line, and the Graphical User Interface(GUI), where a visual environment (most commonly a WIMP) is present.Typically the GUI is integrated into the kernel, allowing the GUI to bemore responsive by reducing the number of context switches required forthe GUI to perform its output functions.

WDM.

The Windows Driver Model (WDM), also known as the Win32 Driver Model, isa standard model defining a framework for device drivers specified byMicrosoft, providing unified driver models. The WDM model is based onWDM drivers that are layered in a complex hierarchy and communicate witheach other via I/O Request Packets (IRPs). The WDM was introduced withWindows 98 and Windows 2000 to replace VxD which was used on olderversions of Windows such as Windows 95 and Windows 3.1, as well as theWindows NT Driver Model, and WDM drivers are usable on all ofMicrosoft's operating systems of Windows 95 and later. The WDM isdescribed in the publication entitled: “Microsoft Windows Driver Model(WDM)”, by Mohamad (Hani) Atassy, submitted to Dr. Dennis R. Hafermanndated Jan. 28, 2002, and in publication entitled: “A Comparison of theLinux and Windows Device Driver Architecture”, by Melekam Tsegaye andRicahrd Foss, both from Rhodes University, South-Africa, downloaded fromthe Internet on July 2014, both are incorporated in their entirety forall purposes as if fully set forth herein.

A general schematic view of the WDM architecture 430 is shown on FIG. 3.In the example shown, three applications designated as application #1431 a, application #2 431 b, and application #3 431 c, are accessingthree peripheral hardware devices, designated as peripheral #1 439 a,peripheral #2 439 b, and peripheral #3 439 c. The model involves threelayers. The lower layer is the hardware layer 50 c, which includes thehardware devices and peripherals, accessed by the processor (such asprocessor 27) via the hardware bus 430 d, which may correspond tointernal bus 13 shown in FIG. 1. The highest layer is a ‘user space’layer 430 a, corresponding to the user mode nd to the higher ‘ring’layers such as Ring 3, and is relating to the space is the memory areawhere application software and some drivers execute. The kernel of theoperating system provides the services as part of a ‘kernel space’ layer430 b, serving as an intermediate layer between the user space layer 430a and the hardware layer 430 c. The kernel space 430 b operates in ahighly privileged hierarchical protection domain, and is strictlyreserved for running privileged kernel, kernel extensions, and mostdevice drivers, and is typically corresponding to the kernel mode and tothe ‘ring-0’ layer (in x86 processors). The kernel mode may be supportedby the processor hardware, or may be supported by a code segment level.

The user mode applications (such as application #1 431 a, application #2431 b, and application #3 431 c) access the kernel space 430 b by theinvoking of system calls respectively denoted as connections 432 a, 432b and 432 c. Typically, such system calls are processed viaintermediating entity known as Windows API, such as a Win32 API 433,which access the kernel space 430 b via a standard messaging 434. TheWin32 API 433 is an example of a Windows API (informally WinAPI), whichis Microsoft's core set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. Almost all Windowsprograms interact with the Windows API; on the Windows NT line ofoperating systems, a small number (such as programs started early in theWindows startup process) uses the Native API. Supporting for developersis in the form of the Windows Software Development Kit (SDK), providingdocumentation and tools necessary to build software based upon theWindows API and associated Windows interfaces. The Win32 API 433 is the32-bit API for modern versions of Windows, and consists of functionsimplemented, as with Win16, in system DLLs. The core DLLs of the Win32include the kernel32.dll, user32.dll, and gdi32.dll. The Win32 API isdescribed in the tutorial entitled: “Welcome to Version 2.0 of the Win32API Tutorial” by Prof M. Saeed, published by Brook Miles, downloadedfrom the Internet on July 2014, which is incorporated in its entiretyfor all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

System calls provide an essential interface between a process and theoperating system. A system call is how a program requests a service froman operating system's kernel. This may include hardware related services(e.g., accessing the hard disk), creating and executing new processes,and communicating with integral kernel services (such as scheduling). Asystem call is typically processed in the kernel mode, which isaccomplished by changing the processor execution mode to a moreprivileged one. The hardware sees the world in terms of the executionmode according to the processor status register, and processes are anabstraction provided by the operating system. A system call does notrequire a context switch to another process, it is processed in thecontext of whichever process invoked it. The system calls are oftenexecuted via traps or interrupts; that automatically puts the CPU intosome required privilege level, and then passes control to the kernel,which determines whether the calling program should be granted therequested service. If the service is granted, the kernel executes aspecific set of instructions over which the calling program has nodirect control, returns the privilege level to that of the callingprogram, and then returns control to the calling program. Implementingsystem calls requires a control transfer, which involves some sort ofarchitecture-specific feature.

System calls can be roughly grouped into five major categories: Processcontrol, such as load, execute, create/terminate process, get/setprocess attributes, wait for time, wait event, and signal event; filemanagement, such as request/release device, create/delete file,open/close file, read/write/reposition file, and get/set fileattributes; device management, such as read/write/reposition device,get/set device attributes, and logically attach/detach devices;information maintenance, such as get/set time or date, get/set systemdata, and get/set process, file, or device attributes; and communicationsuch as create, delete communication connection, transfer statusinformation, and attach or detach remote devices.

The system calls are commonly handled by the I/O manager 435 b, whichallows devices to communicate with user-mode subsystems. It translatesuser-mode read and write commands into read or write IRPs which itpasses to device drivers. It accepts file system I/O requests andtranslates them into device specific calls, and can incorporatelow-level device drivers that directly manipulate hardware to eitherread input or write output. It also includes a cache manager to improvedisk performance by caching read requests and write to the disk in thebackground. The I/O manager 435 b may interface the power manager 435 c,which deals with power events (power-off, stand-by, hibernate, etc.) andnotifies affected drivers with special IRPs (Power IRPs).

The PnP manager 435 a handles ‘Plug and Play’ and supports devicedetection and installation at boot time. It also has the responsibilityto stop and start devices on demand, that can happen when a bus (such asUSB or FireWire) gains a new device and needs to have a device driverloaded to support it. The PnP manager 435 a may be partly implemented inuser mode, in the Plug and Play Service, which handles the often complextasks of installing the appropriate drivers, notifying services andapplications of the arrival of new devices, and displaying GUI to theuser.

I/O Request Packets (IRPs) are kernel mode structures that are used tocommunicate with each other and with the operating system. They are datastructures that describe I/O requests, to a driver, all of theseparameters (such as buffer address, buffer size, I/O function type,etc.) are passed via a single pointer to this persistent data structure.The IRP with all of its parameters can be put on a queue if the I/Orequest cannot be performed immediately. I/O completion is reported backto the I/O manager by passing its address to a routine for that purpose,IoCompleteRequest. The IRP may be repurposed as a special kernel APCobject if such is required to report completion of the I/O to therequesting thread. IRPs are typically created by the I/O Manager inresponse to I/O requests from user mode. However, IRPs are sometimescreated by the plug-and-play manager, power manager, and other systemcomponents, and can also be created by drivers and then passed to otherdrivers.

The WDM uses kernel-mode device drivers to enable it to interact withhardware devices, where each of the drivers has well defined systemroutines and internal routines that it exports to the rest of theoperating system. DriverEntry is the first routine called after a driveris loaded, and is responsible for initializing the driver. All devicesare seen by user mode code as a file object in the I/O manager, thoughto the I/O manager itself the devices are seen as device objects, whichit defines as either file, device or driver objects. The drivers may beaggregated as a driver stack 436, including kernel mode drivers in threelevels: highest level drivers 436 a, intermediate drivers 436 b, and lowlevel drivers 436 c. The highest level drivers 436 a, such as filesystem drivers for FAT and NTFS, rely on the intermediate drivers 436 b,which consist of function drivers or main driver for a device, that areoptionally sandwiched between lower and higher level filter drivers. Thehighest level drivers typically know how files are represented on disk,but not the details of how to actually fetch the data, the intermediatelevel drivers process the requests from the highest level driver bybreaking down a large request into a series of small chunks. Thefunction driver commonly possesses the details relating to how thehardware of the peripheral works, typically relies on a bus driver, or adriver that services a bus controller, adapter, or bridge, which canhave an optional bus filter driver that sits between itself and thefunction driver. For example, a PCI bus driver detects the PCI-slotplugged card or hardware, and determines the I/O-mapped or thememory-mapped connection with the host. Intermediate drivers 436 b relyon the low level drivers 436 c to function. The lowest level drivers 436c are either legacy device drivers that control a device directly, orcan be a PnP hardware bus. These lower level drivers 436 c directlycontrol hardware and do not rely on any other drivers. The I/O manager435 c communicate with the high-level driver 436 a using IRP 437 a, thehigh-level driver 436 a communicate with the intermediate level driver436 b using IRP 437 b, the intermediate level driver 436 b communicatewith the low-level driver 436 c using IRP 437 c, and the low-leveldriver 436 b communicate with the HAL 438 using IRP 437 d.

WDM drivers can be classified into the following types and sub-types:Device function drivers, bus drivers, and filter drivers. A functiondriver is the main driver for a device. A function driver is typicallywritten by the device vendor and is required (unless the device is beingused in raw mode). A function driver can service one or more devices.Miniport drivers are a type of function drivers for interfaces such asUSB, audio, SCSI and network adapters. They are hardware specific, butthe control access to the hardware is through a specific bus classdriver. Class drivers are a type of function drivers and can be thoughtof as built-in framework drivers that miniport and other class driverscan be built on top of. The class drivers provide interfaces betweendifferent levels of the WDM architecture. Common functionality betweendifferent classes of drivers can be written into the class driver andused by other class and miniport drivers. The lower edge of the classdriver will have its interface exposed to the miniport driver, while theupper edge of top level class drivers is operating system specific.Class drivers can be dynamically loaded and unloaded at will. They cando class specific functions that are not hardware or bus-specific (withthe exception of bus-type class drivers) and in fact sometimes only doclass specific functions such as enumeration.

A bus driver services a bus controller, adapter, or bridge. Microsoftprovides bus drivers for most common buses, such as Advancedconfiguration and Power Interface (ACPI), Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI), PnPISA, SCSI, Universal Serial Bus (USB), andFireWire. A bus driver can service more than one bus if there is morethan one bus of the same type on the machine. The ACPI bus driverinteracts with the ACPI BIOS to enumerate the devices in the system andcontrol their power use, the PCI bus driver (such as pci.sys) enumeratesand configures devices connected via the PCI bus, the FireWire and theUSB bus driver respectively enumerates and controls devices connectedvia the IEEE 1394 high speed bus and the USB. The stream class driverprovides a basic processing supporting high bandwidth, time critical,and video and audio data related hardware, and uses minidrivers forinterfacing the actual hardware, and hard-disk, floppies, CDs, and DVDsare interfaces using SCSI and CDROM/DVD class driver. The Human InputDevice (HID) provides an abstract view of input devices, and the StillImage Architecture (SIA) class driver is used to obtain content from ascanner and a still camera, using minidrivers. For example, accessing anhard disk (such as HDD 30) involves a file system driver as high-leveldriver, a volume manager driver as interemediate level driver, and adisk driver as a low-level driver.

Filter drivers are optional drivers that add value to or modify thebehavior of a device and may be non-device drivers. A filter driver canalso service one or more devices. Upper level filter drivers sit abovethe primary driver for the device (the function driver), while lowerlevel filter drivers sit below the function driver and above the busdriver. A driver service is a type of kernel-level filter driverimplemented as a Windows service that enables applications to work withdevices.

The Hardware Abstraction Layer 438, or HAL, is a layer between thephysical hardware layer 430 c of the computer and the rest of theoperating system. It was designed to hide differences in hardware andtherefore provide a consistent platform on which the kernel is run. TheHAL 438 includes hardware-specific code that controls I/O interfaces,interrupt controllers and multiple processors. Typically the particularhardware abstraction does not involve abstracting the instruction set,which generally falls under the wider concept of portability.Abstracting the instruction set, when necessary (such as for handlingthe several revisions to the x86 instruction set, or emulating a missingmath coprocessor), is performed by the kernel, or via platformvirtualization.

Linux is a Unix-like and mostly POSIX-compliant computer operatingsystem assembled under the model of free and open source softwaredevelopment and distribution. The defining component of Linux is theLinux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on 5 Oct. 1991by Linus Torvalds. Linux was originally developed as a free operatingsystem for Intel x86-based personal computers, but has since been portedto more computer hardware platforms than any other operating system.Linux also runs on embedded systems such as mobile phones, tabletcomputers, network routers, facility automation controls, televisions,and video game consoles. Android, which is a widely used operatingsystem for mobile devices, is built on top of the Linux kernel.Typically, Linux is packaged in a format known as a Linux distributionfor desktop and server use.

Linux distributions include the Linux kernel, supporting utilities andlibraries and usually a large amount of application software to fulfillthe distribution's intended use. A Linux-based system is a modularUnix-like operating system. Such a system uses a monolithic kernel, theLinux kernel, which handles process control, networking, and peripheraland file system access. Device drivers are either integrated directlywith the kernel or added as modules loaded while the system is running.Some components of an installed Linux system are a bootloader, forexample GNU GRUB or LILO, which is executed by the computer when it isfirst turned on, and loads the Linux kernel into memory; an initprogram, which is the first process launched by the Linux kernel, and isat the root of the process tree, and starts processes such as systemservices and login prompts (whether graphical or in terminal mode);Software libraries which contain code which can be used by runningprocesses; and user interface programs such as command shells orwindowing environments. A version of Linux is described, for example, inIBM Corporation (headquartered in Armonk, New-York, U.S.A.) publicationNo. SC34-2597-03 entitled: “Device Drivers, Features, and Commands onRed Hat Exterprise Linux 6.3”, downloaded from the Internet on July2014, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fullyset forth herein.

The general schematic Linux driver architecture 450 is shown in FIG. 3a, and the Linux kernel is further described in Wiley Publishing, Inc.publication entitled: “Professional Linux Kernel Architecture”, byWofgang Mauerer published 2008, and Linux programming is described inthe book entitled: “The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide” ver.2.6.4 by Peter Jay Salzman, Michael Burian, and Ori Pomerantz, dated May18, 2007, and in the publication entitled: “A Comparison of the Linuxand Windows Device Driver Architecture”, by Melekam Tsegaye and RichardFoss, both from Rhodes University, South-Africa, downloaded from theInternet on July 2014, which are all incorporated in their entirety forall purposes as if fully set forth herein.

Similar to the WDM 430 shown in FIG. 3, the Linux kernel involves a‘System Call Interface’ 453, receiving system calls 452 a, 452 b, and452 c from the respective applications such as an application #1 431 a,an application #2 431 b, and an application #3 431 c, and serves as thedenomination for the entirety of all implemented and available systemcalls in a kernel. The Linux kernel is based on a layered modules stack454, which may include three levels of modules, such as module #1 454 a,module #2 454 b, and module #3 454 c, where the module #1 454 acommunicate over connection 455 a with the system call interface 453,the module #2 454 b communicates with the module #1 454 a overconnection 455 b, the module #3 454 c communicates over the connection455 c with the module #2 454 b and over a connection 455 d with the HAL438.

Similar to the WDM 430 shown in FIG. 3, the Linux kernel shown as thearrangement 450 in FIG. 3a , is using the concept of layeredarchitecture of a modules stack 454, which may comprise module #1 454 a,module #2 454 b, and module #3 454 c, communicating using messagingmechanism, such as a connection 455 a between the system call interface453 and the module #1 454 a, a connection 455 b between the module #1454 a and the module #2 454 b, a connection 455 c between the module #2454 b and the module #3 454 c, and a connection 455 d between the module#3 454 c and the HAL 438.

The modules in the modules stack 454, typically referred to as LoadableKernel Modules (or LKM), are object files that contain code to extendthe running Linux kernel, or so-called base kernel. LKMs are typicallyused to add support for new hardware and/or filesystems, or for addingsystem calls. When the functionality provided by a LKM is no longerrequired, it can be unloaded in order to free memory and otherresources. Loadable kernel modules in Linux are located in /lib/modulesand have had the extension ‘.ko’ (“kernel object”) since version 2.6(previous versions used the .o extension), and are loaded (and unloaded)by the modprobe command. The lsmod command lists the loaded kernelmodules. In emergency cases, when the system fails to boot (due to e.g.broken modules), specific modules can be enabled or disabled bymodifying the kernel boot parameters list (for example, if using GRUB,by pressing ‘e’ in the GRUB start menu, then editing the kernelparameter line). Linux allows disabling module loading via sysctl option/proc/sys/kernel/modules_(—)disabled. An initramfs system may loadspecific modules needed for a machine at boot and then disable moduleloading.

A web browser (commonly referred to as a browser) is a softwareapplication for retrieving, presenting, and traversing informationresources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identifiedby a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI/URL) and may be part of a webpage, a web-page, an image, a video, or any other piece of content.Hyperlinks present in resources enable users easily to navigate theirbrowsers to related resources. Although browsers are primarily intendedto use the World Wide Web, they can also be used to access informationprovided by web servers in private networks or files in file systems.The primary purpose of a web browser is to bring information resourcesto the user (“retrieval” or “fetching”), allowing them to view theinformation (“display”, “rendering”), and then access other information(“navigation”, “following links”). Currently the major web browsers areknown as Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, and Safari.

The process begins when the user inputs a Uniform Resource Locator(URL), for example ‘http://en.wikipedia.org/’, into the browser. Theprefix of the URL, the Uniform Resource Identifier or URI, determineshow the URL will be interpreted. The most commonly used kind of URIstarts with http: and identifies a resource to be retrieved over theHypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Many browsers also support a varietyof other prefixes, such as https: for HTTPS, ftp: for the File TransferProtocol, and file: for local files. Prefixes that the web browsercannot directly handle are often handed off to another applicationentirely. For example, mailto: URIs are usually passed to the user'sdefault e-mail application, and news: URIs are passed to the user'sdefault newsgroup reader. In the case of http, https, file, and others,once the resource has been retrieved the web browser will display it.HTML and associated content (image files, formatting information such asCSS, etc.) is passed to the browser's layout engine to be transformedfrom markup to an interactive document, a process known as “rendering”.Aside from HTML, web browsers can generally display any kind of contentthat can be part of a web page. Most browsers can display images, audio,video, and XML files, and often have plug-ins to support Flashapplications and Java applets. Upon encountering a file of anunsupported type or a file that is set up to be downloaded rather thandisplayed, the browser prompts the user to save the file to disk.Information resources may contain hyperlinks to other informationresources. Each link contains the URI of a resource to go to. When alink is clicked, the browser navigates to the resource indicated by thelink's target URI, and the process of bringing content to the userbegins again. The architecture of a web browser is described in thepublication entitled: “Architecture and evolution of the modern webbrowser” by Alan Grosskurth and Michael W. Godfrey of the University ofWaterloo in Canada, dated Jun. 20, 2006, which is incorporated in itsentirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

A currently popular web browser is the Internet Explorer (formerlyMicrosoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonlyabbreviated IE or MSIE) from Microsoft Corporation, headquartered inRedmond, Wash., U.S.A., which is a series of graphical web browsersdeveloped by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windowsline of operating systems. The Internet Explorer 8 is described, forexample, in Microsoft 2009 publication entitled: “Step by Step Tutorialsfor Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 Accessibility Options”, which isincorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein. Another popular web browser is the Google Chrome which is afreeware web browser developed by Google, headquartered in Googleplex,Mountain View, Calif., U.S.A. Google Chrome aims to be secure, fast,simple, and stable, providing strong application performance andJavaScript processing speed.

A mobile browser, also called a microbrowser, minibrowser, or WirelessInternet Browser (WIB), is a web browser designed for use on a mobiledevice such as a mobile phone or PDA. Mobile browsers are optimized soas to display Web content most effectively for small screens on portabledevices. Mobile browser software must be small and efficient toaccommodate the low memory capacity and low-bandwidth of wirelesshandheld devices. Some mobile browsers can handle more recenttechnologies like CSS 2.1, JavaScript, and Ajax. Websites designed foraccess from these browsers are referred to as wireless portals orcollectively as the Mobile Web. They may automatically create “mobile”versions of each page, for example this one

The mobile browser typically connects via cellular network, via WirelessLAN, or via other wireless networks, and are using standard HTTP overTCP/IP, and displays web pages written in HTML, XHTML Mobile Profile(WAP 2.0), or WML (which evolved from HDML). WML and HDML arestripped-down formats suitable for transmission across limitedbandwidth, and wireless data connection called WAP. WAP 2.0 specifiesXHTML Mobile Profile plus WAP CSS, subsets of the W3C's standard XHTMLand CSS with minor mobile extensions. Some mobile browsers arefull-featured Web browsers capable of HTML, CSS, ECMAScript, as well asmobile technologies such as WML, i-mode HTML, or cHTML. To accommodatesmall screens, some mobile browsers use Post-WIMP interfaces. An exampleof a mobile browser is Safari, which is a mobile web browser developedby Apple Inc. (headquartered in Apple Campus, Cupertino, Calif.,U.S.A.), included with the OS X and iOS operating systems, and describedin Apple publication entitled: “Safari Web Content Guide”, dated March2014, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fullyset forth herein.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram that illustrates a system 10 including acomputer system 11 and the associated Internet 113 connection. Suchconfiguration is typically used for computers (hosts) connected to theInternet 113 and executing a server or a client (or a combination)software. The system 11 may be used as a portable electronic device suchas a notebook/laptop computer, a media player (e.g., MP3 based or videoplayer), a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a cellular phone, aPersonal Digital Assistant (PDA), an image processing device (e.g., adigital camera or video recorder), and/or any other handheld or fixedlocation computing devices, or a combination of any of these devices.Note that while FIG. 1 illustrates various components of a computersystem, it is not intended to represent any particular architecture ormanner of interconnecting the components; as such details are notgermane. It will also be appreciated that network computers, handheldcomputers, cell phones and other data processing systems which havefewer components or perhaps more components may also be used. Thecomputer system of FIG. 1 may, for example, be an Apple Macintoshcomputer or Power Book, or an IBM compatible PC. The computer system 11includes a bus 13, an interconnect, or other communication mechanism forcommunicating information, and a processor 27, commonly in the form ofan integrated circuit, coupled to the bus 13 for processing informationand for executing the computer executable instructions. Computer system11 also includes a main memory 122, such as a Random Access Memory (RAM)or other dynamic storage device, coupled to bus 13 for storinginformation and instructions to be executed by processor 27. Main memory122 also may be used for storing temporary variables or otherintermediate information during execution of instructions to be executedby processor 27. The computer system 11 further includes a Read OnlyMemory (ROM) 25 b (or other non-volatile memory) or other static storagedevice coupled to the bus 13 for storing static information andinstructions for the processor 27. A storage device 25 c, such as amagnetic disk or optical disk, a hard disk drive (HDD) for reading fromand writing to a hard disk, a magnetic disk drive for reading from andwriting to a magnetic disk, and/or an optical disk drive (such as DVD)for reading from and writing to a removable optical disk, is coupled tobus 13 for storing information and instructions. The hard disk drive,magnetic disk drive, and optical disk drive may be connected to thesystem bus by a hard disk drive interface, a magnetic disk driveinterface, and an optical disk drive interface, respectively. The drivesand their associated computer-readable media provide non-volatilestorage of computer readable instructions, data structures, programmodules and other data for the general purpose computing devices.Typically, the computer system 11 includes an Operating System (OS)stored in a non-volatile storage for managing the computer resources andprovides the applications and programs with an access to the computerresources and interfaces. An operating system commonly processes systemdata and user input, and responds by allocating and managing tasks andinternal system resources, such as controlling and allocating memory,prioritizing system requests, controlling input and output devices,facilitating networking and managing files. Non-limiting examples ofoperating systems are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

The term “processor” is used herein to include, but not limited to, anyintegrated circuit or other electronic device (or collection of devices)capable of performing an operation on at least one instruction,including, without limitation, Reduced Instruction Set Core (RISC)processors, CISC microprocessors, Microcontroller Units (MCUs),CISC-based Central Processing Units (CPUs), and Digital SignalProcessors (DSPs). The hardware of such devices may be integrated onto asingle substrate (e.g., silicon “die”), or distributed among two or moresubstrates. Furthermore, various functional aspects of the processor maybe implemented solely as software or firmware associated with theprocessor.

The computer system 11 may be coupled via a bus 13 to a display 17, suchas a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a flatscreen monitor, a touch screen monitor or similar means for displayingtext and graphical data to a user. The display may be connected via avideo adapter for supporting the display. The display allows a user toview, enter, and/or edit information that is relevant to the operationof the system. An input device 18, including alphanumeric and otherkeys, is coupled to the bus 13 for communicating information and commandselections to the processor 27. Another type of user input device is acursor control 19, such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor directionkeys for communicating direction information and command selections tothe processor 27 and for controlling cursor movement on the display 17.This input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, afirst axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allows the deviceto specify positions in a plane.

The computer system 11 may be used for implementing the methods andtechniques described herein. According to one embodiment, those methodsand techniques are performed by the computer system 11 in response tothe processor 27 executing one or more sequences of one or moreinstructions contained in a main memory 25 a. Such instructions may beread into the main memory 25 a from another computer-readable medium,such as a storage device 123. Execution of the sequences of instructionscontained in the main memory 25 a causes the processor 27 to perform theprocess steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wiredcircuitry may be used in place of or in combination with softwareinstructions to implement the arrangement. Thus, embodiments of theinvention are not limited to any specific combination of hardwarecircuitry and software.

The term “computer-readable medium” (or “machine-readable medium”) isused herein to include, but not limited to, any medium or any memory,that participates in providing instructions to a processor, (such as theprocessor 27) for execution, or any mechanism for storing ortransmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). Such a medium may store computer-executable instructions tobe executed by a processing element and/or control logic, and data whichis manipulated by a processing element and/or control logic, and maytake many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile medium,volatile medium, and transmission medium. Transmission media includescoaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires thatcomprise the bus 13. Transmission media can also take the form ofacoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave andinfrared data communications, or other form of propagating signals(e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.). Commonforms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, aflexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, aCD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch-cards, paper-tape, any otherphysical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, aFLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave asdescribed hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer canread.

Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor 27 forexecution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on amagnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer can load theinstructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over atelephone line using a modem. A modem local to the computer system 11can receive the data on the telephone line and use an infraredtransmitter to convert the data to an infrared signal. An infrareddetector can receive the data carried in the infrared signal andappropriate circuitry can place the data on the bus 13. The bus 13carries the data to the main memory 25 a, from which the processor 27retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions received bythe main memory 25 a may optionally be stored on the storage device 25 ceither before or after execution by the processor 27.

The computer system 11 commonly includes a communication interface 29coupled to the bus 13. The communication interface 29 provides a two-waydata communication coupling to a network link 28 that is connected to alocal network 14. For example, the communication interface 29 may be anIntegrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) card or a modem to provide adata communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line.As another non-limiting example, the communication interface 29 may be alocal area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connectionto a compatible LAN. For example, Ethernet based connection based onIEEE802.3 standard may be used, such as 10/100BaseT, 1000BaseT (gigabitEthernet), 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GE or 10 GbE or 10 GigE per IEEE Std.802.3ae-2002 as standard), 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40 GbE), or 100 GigabitEthernet (100 GbE as per Ethernet standard IEEE P802.3ba). Thesetechnologies are described in Cisco Systems, Inc. Publication number1-587005-001-3 (June 1999), “Internetworking Technologies Handbook”,Chapter 7: “Ethernet Technologies”, pages 7-1 to 7-38, which isincorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein. In such a case, the communication interface 29 typicallyincludes a LAN transceiver or a modem, such as Standard MicrosystemsCorporation (SMSC) LAN91C111 10/100 Ethernet transceiver, described in aStandard Microsystems Corporation (SMSC) data-sheet “LAN91C111 10/100Non-PCI Ethernet Single Chip MAC+PHY” Data-Sheet, Rev. 15 (Feb. 20,2004), which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as iffully set forth herein.

The Internet 113 is a global system of interconnected computer networksthat use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP), includingTransmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), toserve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks thatconsists of millions of private, public, academic, business, andgovernment networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by abroad array of electronic and optical networking technologies. TheInternet carries a vast range of information resources and services,such as the interlinked hypertext documents on the World Wide Web (WWW)and the infrastructure to support electronic mail. The Internet backbonerefers to the principal data routes between large, strategicallyinterconnected networks and core routers in the Internet. These dataroutes are hosted by commercial, government, academic and otherhigh-capacity network centers, the Internet exchange points and networkaccess points that interchange Internet traffic between the countries,continents and across the oceans of the world. Traffic interchangebetween Internet service providers (often Tier 1 networks) participatingin the Internet backbone exchange traffic by privately negotiatedinterconnection agreements, primarily governed by the principle ofsettlement-free peering.

An Internet Service Provider (ISP) 12 is an organization that providesservices for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet 113.Internet Service Providers may be organized in various forms, such ascommercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privately owned.Internet services typically provided by ISPs include Internet access,Internet transit, domain name registration, web hosting, and colocation.Various ISP Structures are described in Chapter 2: “Structural Overviewof ISP Networks” of the book entitled: “Guide to Reliable InternetServices and Applications”, by Robert D. Doverspike, K. K. Ramakrishnan,and Chris Chase, published 2010 (ISBN: 978-1-84882-827-8), which isincorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein.

A mailbox provider is an organization that provides services for hostingelectronic mail domains with access to storage for mailboxes. Itprovides email servers to send, receive, accept, and store email for endusers or other organizations. Internet hosting services provide email,web-hosting, or online storage services. Other services include virtualserver, cloud services, or physical server operation. A virtual ISP(VISP) is an operation that purchases services from another ISP,sometimes called a wholesale ISP in this context, which allow the VISP'scustomers to access the Internet using services and infrastructure ownedand operated by the wholesale ISP. It is akin to mobile virtual networkoperators and competitive local exchange carriers for voicecommunications. A Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) is anInternet service provider with a network based on wireless networking.Technology may include commonplace Wi-Fi wireless mesh networking, orproprietary equipment designed to operate over open 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz,4.9, 5.2, 5.4, 5.7, and 5.8 GHz bands or licensed frequencies in the UHFband (including the MMDS frequency band) and LMDS.

ISPs may engage in peering, where multiple ISPs interconnect at peeringpoints or Internet exchange points (IXs), allowing routing of databetween each network, without charging one another for the datatransmitted-data that would otherwise have passed through a thirdupstream ISP, incurring charges from the upstream ISP. ISPs requiring noupstream and having only customers (end customers and/or peer ISPs), arereferred to as Tier 1 ISPs.

A multitasking is a method where multiple tasks (also known as processesor programs) are performed during the same period of time—they areexecuted concurrently (in overlapping time periods, new tasks startingbefore others have ended) instead of sequentially (one completing beforethe next starts). The tasks share common processing resources, such as aCPU and main memory. Multitasking does not necessarily mean thatmultiple tasks are executing at exactly the same instant. In otherwords, multitasking does not imply parallelism, but it does mean thatmore than one task can be part-way through execution at the same time,and more than one task is advancing over a given period of time.

In the case of a computer with a single CPU, only one task is said to berunning at any point in time, meaning that the CPU is actively executinginstructions for that task. Multitasking solves the problem byscheduling which task may be the one running at any given time, and whenanother waiting task gets a turn. The act of reassigning a CPU from onetask to another one is called a context switch. When context switchesoccur frequently enough, the illusion of parallelism is achieved. Evenon computers with more than one CPU (called multiprocessor machines) ormore than one core in a given CPU (called multicore machines), wheremore than one task can be executed at a given instant (one per CPU orcore), multitasking allows many more tasks to be run than there areCPUs.

Operating systems may adopt one of many different scheduling strategies.In multiprogramming systems, the running task keeps running until itperforms an operation that requires waiting for an external event (e.g.reading from a tape) or until the computer's scheduler forcibly swapsthe running task out of the CPU. Multiprogramming systems are designedto maximize CPU usage. In time-sharing systems, the running task isrequired to relinquish the CPU, either voluntarily or by an externalevent such as a hardware interrupt. Time sharing systems are designed toallow several programs to execute apparently simultaneously. Inreal-time systems, some waiting tasks are guaranteed to be given the CPUwhen an external event occurs. Real time systems are designed to controlmechanical devices such as industrial robots, which require timelyprocessing.

Encryption based mechanisms are commonly end-to-end processes involvingonly the sender and the receiver, where the sender encrypts the plaintext message by transforming it using an algorithm, making it unreadableto anyone, except the receiver which possesses special knowledge. Thedata is then sent to the receiver over a network such as the Internet,and when received the special knowledge enables the receiver to reversethe process (decrypt) to make the information readable as in theoriginal message. The encryption process commonly involves computingresources such as processing power, storage space and requires time forexecuting the encryption/decryption algorithm, which may delay thedelivery of the message.

Transport Layer Security (TLS) and its predecessor Secure Sockets Layer(SSL) are non-limiting examples of end-to-end cryptographic protocols,providing secured communication above the OSI Transport Layer, usingkeyed message authentication code and symmetric cryptography. Inclient/server applications, the TLS client and server negotiate astateful connection by using a handshake procedure, during which variousparameters are agreed upon, allowing a communication in a way designedto prevent eavesdropping and tampering. The TLS 1.2 is defined in RFC5246, and several versions of the protocol are in widespread use inapplications such as web browsing, electronic mail, Internet faxing,instant messaging and Voice-over-IP (VoIP). In application design, TLSis usually implemented on top of any of the Transport Layer protocols,encapsulating the application-specific protocols such as HTTP, FTP,SMTP, NNTP, and XMPP. Historically, it has been used primarily withreliable transport protocols such as the Transmission Control Protocol(TCP). However, it has also been implemented with datagram-orientedtransport protocols, such as the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and theDatagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP), a usage which has beenstandardized independently using the term Datagram Transport LayerSecurity (DTLS). A prominent use of TLS is for securing World Wide Webtraffic carried by HTTP to form HTTPS. Notable applications areelectronic commerce and asset management. Increasingly, the Simple MailTransfer Protocol (SMTP) is also protected by TLS (RFC 3207). Theseapplications use public key certificates to verify the identity ofendpoints. Another Layer 4 (Transport Layer) and upper layersencryption-based communication protocols include SSH (Secure Shell) andSSL (Secure Socket Layer).

Layer 3 (Network Layer) and lower layer encryption based protocolsinclude IPsec, L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol) over IPsec, andEthernet over IPsec. The IPsec is a protocol suite for securing IPcommunication by encrypting and authenticating each IP packet of acommunication session. The IPsec standard is currently based on RFC 4301and RFC 4309, and was originally described in RFCs 1825-1829, which arenow obsolete, and uses the Security Parameter Index (SPI, as per RFC2401) as an identification tag added to the header while using IPsec fortunneling the IP traffic. An IPsec overview is provided in CiscoSystems, Inc. document entitled: “An Introduction to IP Security (IPSec)Encryption”, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes asif fully set forth herein.

Two common approaches to cryptography are found in U.S. Pat. No.3,962,539 to Ehrsam et al., entitled “Product Block Cipher System forData Security”, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,829 to Rivest et al.,entitled “Cryptographic Communications System and Method”, which areboth incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully setforth herein. The Ehrsam patent discloses what is commonly known as theData Encryption Standard (DES), while the Rivest patent discloses whatis commonly known as the RSA algorithm (which stands for Rivest, Shamirand Adleman who first publicly described it), which is widely used inelectronic commerce protocols. The RSA involves using a public key and aprivate key. DES is based upon secret-key cryptography, also referred toas symmetric cryptography, and relies upon a 56-bit key for encryption.In this form of cryptography, the sender and receiver of cipher textboth possess identical secret keys, which are, in an ideal world,completely unique and unknown to the world outside of the sender andreceiver. By encoding plain text into cipher text using the secret key,the sender may send the cipher text to the receiver using any availablepublic or otherwise insecure communication system. The receiver, havingreceived the cipher text, decrypts it using the secret key to arrive atthe plain text.

A proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application) thatacts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources fromother servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting someservice, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource,available from a different server and the proxy server evaluates therequest as a way to simplify and control its complexity. Proxies may beused to add structure and encapsulation to distributed systems. Today,most proxies are web proxies, facilitating access to content on theWorld Wide Web and providing anonymity. A proxy server may reside on theuser's local computer, or at various points between the user's computerand destination servers on the Internet. A proxy server that passesrequests and responses unmodified is usually called a gateway orsometimes a tunneling proxy. A forward proxy is an Internet-facing proxyused to retrieve from a wide range of sources (in most cases anywhere onthe Internet). Forward proxies are proxies in which the client servernames the target server to connect to, and are able to retrieve from awide range of sources (in most cases anywhere on the Internet). An openproxy is a forwarding proxy server that is accessible by any Internetuser, while browsing the Web or using other Internet services. There arevarying degrees of anonymity, however, as well as a number of methods of‘tricking’ the client into revealing itself regardless of the proxybeing used. A reverse proxy is usually an Internet-facing proxy used asa front-end to control and protect access to a server on a privatenetwork. A reverse proxy commonly also performs tasks such asload-balancing, authentication, decryption or caching.

Randomness is commonly implemented by using random numbers, defined as asequence of numbers or symbols that lack any pattern and thus appearrandom, are often generated by a random number generator. Randomness forsecurity is also described in IETF RFC 1750 “Randomness Recommendationsfor Security” (December 1994), which is incorporated in its entirety forall purposes as if fully set forth herein. A random number generator(having either analog or digital output) can be hardware based, using aphysical process such as thermal noise, shot noise, nuclear decayingradiation, photoelectric effect or other quantum phenomena.Alternatively, or in addition, the generation of the random numbers canbe software based, using a processor executing an algorithm forgenerating pseudo-random numbers which approximates the properties ofrandom numbers.

Onion routing (OR) is a technique for anonymous communication over theInternet or any other computer network. Messages are repeatedlyencrypted and then sent through several network nodes called onionrouters. Each onion router removes a layer of encryption to uncoverrouting instructions, and sends the message to the next router wherethis is repeated. This prevents these intermediary nodes from knowingthe origin, destination, and contents of the message. To prevent anadversary from eavesdropping on message content, messages are encryptedbetween routers. The advantage of onion routing (and mix cascades ingeneral) is that it is not necessary to trust each cooperating router;if one or more routers are compromised, anonymous communication canstill be achieved. This is because each router in an OR network acceptsmessages, re-encrypts them, and transmits to another onion router. Theidea of onion routing (OR) is to protect the privacy of the sender andthe recipient of a message, while also providing protection for messagecontent as it traverses a network. Onion routing accomplishes thisaccording to the principle of Chaum mix cascades: messages travel fromsource to destination via a sequence of proxies (“onion routers”), whichre-route messages in an unpredictable path.

Routing onions are data structures used to create paths through whichmany messages can be transmitted. To create an onion, the router at thehead of a transmission selects a number of onion routers at random andgenerates a message for each one, providing it with symmetric keys fordecrypting messages, and instructing it which router will be next in thepath. Each of these messages, and the messages intended for subsequentrouters, is encrypted with the corresponding router's public key. Thisprovides a layered structure, in which it is necessary to decrypt allouter layers of the onion in order to reach an inner layer. Onionrouting is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,266,704 to Reed et al.,entitled: “Onion Routing Network for Securely Moving data throughCommunication Networks”, which is incorporated in its entirety for allpurposes as if fully set forth herein. Other prior art publicationsrelating to onion routing are the publications “Probabilistic Analysisof Onion Routing in a Black-box Model [Extended Abstract]” presented inWPES'07: Proceedings of the 2007 ACM Workshop on Privacy in ElectronicSociety, “A Model of Onion Routing with Provable Anonymity” presented inProceedings of Financial Cryptography and Data Security '07, and “AModel of Onion Routing with Provable Anonymity”, presented in theFinancial Cryptography and Data Security, 11th International Conference,all by Feigenbaum J., Johnson J. and Syverson P., publications“Improving Efficiency and Simplicity of Tor circuit establishment andhidden services”, Proceedings of the 2007 Privacy Enhancing TechnologiesSymposium, Springer-Verlag, LNCS 4776, publication “Untraceableelectronic mail, return addresses, and digital pseudonyms” by Chaum D.,in Communications of the ACM 24(2), February 1981, and “Valet Services:Improving Hidden Servers with a Personal Touch”, Proceedings of the 2006Privacy Enhancing Technologies Workshop, Springer-Verlag, LNCS 4285,both by Overlier L., Syverson P., publications “Making AnonymousCommunication”, Generation 2 Onion Routing briefing slides, Center forHigh Assurance Computer Systems, naval Research Laboratory, Presented atthe National Science Foundation, Jun. 8, 2004 by Syverson P.,publications “Onion Routing Access Configurations, DISCEX 2000:Proceedings of the DARPA Information Survivability Conference andExposition”, Volume I Hilton Head, S.C., IEEE CS Press, January 2000,“Onion Routing for Anonymous and Private Internet Connections”Communications of the ACM, vol. 42, num. 2, February 1999, and“Anonymous Connections and Onion Routing” IEEE Journal on Selected Areasin Communication Special Issue on Copyright and Privacy Protection,1998, all by Syverson P., Reed M. G., Goldschlag M., publication“Towards an Analysis of Onion Routing Security”, and “Workshop on DesignIssues in Anonymity and Unobservability”, Berkeley, Calif., July 2000 bySyverson P., Tsudik G., Reed M. G., and Landwehr C, which areincorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein.

‘Tor’ is an anonymizing network based on the principles of ‘onionrouting’, and involves a system which selects a randomly chosen routefor each connection, via the routers present in the Tor network. Thelast server appears herein as an ‘exit node’ and sends the data to thefinal recipient after leaving the Tor cloud. At this point, it is nolonger possible for an observer constantly watching the ‘exit node’ todetermine who the sender of the message was. This concept and itscomponents are known from the ‘Tor’ project inhttp://www.torproject.org. The Tor network concept is described in U.S.Patent Application Publication 2010/0002882 to Rieger et al., in thepublication “Tor: The Second-Generation Onion Router”, in Proceedings ofthe 13th USENIX Security Symposium August 2004, by Dingledine R.,Mathewson N., Syverson P., in the publication “Tor Protocolspecification” by Dingledine R. and Mathewson N., in the publication“Tor Directory Protocol, Version 3”, and the publication “TC: A TorControl Protocol” downloaded from the Tor web-site, which areincorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein.

Computer networks may use a tunneling protocol where one networkprotocol (the delivery protocol) encapsulates a different payloadprotocol. Tunneling enables the encapsulation of a packet from one typeof protocol within the datagram of a different protocol. For example,VPN uses PPTP to encapsulate IP packets over a public network, such asthe Internet. A VPN solution based on Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol(PPTP), Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), or Secure Socket TunnelingProtocol (SSTP) can be configured. By using tunneling a payload may becarried over an incompatible delivery-network, or provide a secure paththrough an untrusted network. Typically, the delivery protocol operatesat an equal or higher OSI layer than does the payload protocol. In oneexample of a network layer over a network layer, Generic RoutingEncapsulation (GRE), a protocol running over IP (IP Protocol Number 47),often serves to carry IP packets, with RFC 1918 private addresses, overthe Internet using delivery packets with public IP addresses. In thiscase, the delivery and payload protocols are compatible, but the payloadaddresses are incompatible with those of the delivery network. Incontrast, an IP payload might believe it sees a data link layer deliverywhen it is carried inside the Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP), whichappears to the payload mechanism as a protocol of the data link layer.L2TP, however, actually runs over the transport layer using UserDatagram Protocol (UDP) over IP. The IP in the delivery protocol couldrun over any data-link protocol from IEEE 802.2 over IEEE 802.3 (i.e.,standards-based Ethernet) to the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) over adialup modem link.

Tunneling protocols may use data encryption to transport insecurepayload protocols over a public network (such as the Internet), therebyproviding VPN functionality. IPsec has an end-to-end Transport Mode, butcan also operate in a tunneling mode through a trusted security gateway.HTTP tunneling is a technique by which communications performed usingvarious network protocols are encapsulated using the HTTP protocol, thenetwork protocols in question usually belonging to the TCP/IP family ofprotocols. The HTTP protocol therefore acts as a wrapper for a channelthat the network protocol being tunneled uses to communicate. The HTTPstream with its covert channel is termed an HTTP tunnel. HTTP tunnelsoftware consists of client-server HTTP tunneling applications thatintegrate with existing application software, permitting them to be usedin conditions of restricted network connectivity including firewallednetworks, networks behind proxy servers, and network addresstranslation.

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are point-to-point connections across aprivate or public network, such as the Internet. A VPN client typicallyuses special TCP/IP-based protocols, called tunneling protocols, to makea virtual call to a virtual port on a VPN server. In a typical VPNdeployment, a client initiates a virtual point-to-point connection to aremote access server over the Internet, then the remote access serveranswers the call, authenticates the caller, and transfers data betweenthe VPN client and the organization's private network. To emulate apoint-to-point link, data is encapsulated, or wrapped, with a header.The header provides routing information that enables the data totraverse the shared or public network to reach its endpoint. To emulatea private link, the data being sent is encrypted for confidentiality.Packets that are intercepted on the shared or public network areindecipherable without the encryption keys. The link in which theprivate data is encapsulated and encrypted is known as a VPN connection.Commonly there are two types of VPN connections, referred to as RemoteAccess VPN and Site-to-Site VPN. Popular VPN connections use PPTP,L2TP/IPsec, or SSTP protocols. The RFC 4026 provides ‘ProviderProvisioned Virtual Private Network (VPN) Terminology’, and RFC 2547provides a VPN method based on MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) andBGP (Border Gateway Protocol).

Remote access VPN connections enable users working at home or on theroad to access a server on a private network using the infrastructureprovided by a public network, such as the Internet. From the user'sperspective, the VPN is a point-to-point connection between the computer(the VPN client) and an organization's server. The exact infrastructureof the shared or public network is irrelevant because it appearslogically as if the data is sent over a dedicated private link.

Site-to-site VPN connections (also known as router-to-router VPNconnections) enable organizations to have routed connections betweenseparate offices or with other organizations over a public network whilehelping to maintain secure communications. A routed VPN connectionacross the Internet logically operates as a dedicated wide area network(WAN) link. When networks are connected over the Internet, a routerforwards packets to another router across a VPN connection. To therouters, the VPN connection operates as a data-link layer link. Asite-to-site VPN connection connects two portions of a private network.The VPN server provides a routed connection to the network to which theVPN server is attached. The calling router (the VPN client)authenticates itself to the answering router (the VPN server), and, formutual authentication, the answering router authenticates itself to thecalling router. In the site-to site VPN connection, the packets sentfrom either router across the VPN connection typically do not originateat the routers.

There is a growing widespread use of the Internet for carryingmultimedia, such as a video and audio. Various audio services includeInternet-radio stations and VoIP (Voice-over-IP). Video services overthe Internet include video conferencing and IPTV (IP Television). Inmost cases, the multimedia service is a real-time (or near real-time)application, and thus sensitive to delays over the Internet. Inparticular, two-way services such a VoIP or other telephony services andvideo-conferencing are delay sensitive. In some cases, the delaysinduced by the encryption process, as well as the hardware/softwarecosts associated with the encryption, render encryption asnon-practical. Therefore, it is not easy to secure enough capacity ofthe Internet accessible by users to endure real-time communicationapplications such as Internet games, chatting, VoIP, and MoIP(Multimedia-over-IP), so there may be a data loss, delay or severejitter in the course of communication due to the property of an Internetprotocol, thereby causing inappropriate real-time video communication.The following chapters of the publication number 1-587005-001-3 by CiscoSystems, Inc. (July 1999), entitled: “Internetworking TechnologiesHandbook”, relate to multimedia carried over the Internet, and are allincorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein: Chapter 18: “Multiservice Access Technologies” (pages 18-1 to18-10), and Chapter 19: “Voice/Data Integration Technologies” (pages19-1 to 19-30).

VoIP systems in widespread use today fall into three groups: systemsusing the ITU-T H.323 protocol, systems using the SIP protocol, andsystems that use proprietary protocols. H.323 is a standard forteleconferencing that was developed by the InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU). It supports full multimedia, audio,video and data transmission between groups of two or more participants,and it is designed to support large networks. H.323 isnetwork-independent: it can be used over networks using transportprotocols other than TCP/IP. H.323 is still a very important protocol,but it has fallen out of use for consumer VoIP products due to the factthat it is difficult to make it work through firewalls that are designedto protect computers running many different applications. It is a systembest suited to large organizations that possess the technical skills toovercome these problems.

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is an Internet Engineering Task Force(IETF) standard signaling protocol for teleconferencing, telephony,presence and event notification and instant messaging. It provides amechanism for setting up and managing connections, but not fortransporting the audio or video data. It is probably now the most widelyused protocol for managing Internet telephony. Similar to the IETFprotocols, SIP is defined in a number of RFCs, principally RFC 3261. ASIP-based VoIP implementation may send the encoded voice data over thenetwork in a number of ways. Most implementations use a Real-timeTransport Protocol (RTP), which is defined in RFC 3550. Both SIP and RTPare implemented on UDP, which, as a connectionless protocol, can causedifficulties with certain types of routers and firewalls. Usable SIPphones therefore also need to use Simple Traversal of UDP over NAT(STUN), a protocol defined in RFC 3489 that allows a client behind a NATrouter to find out its external IP address and the type of NAT device.

FIG. 2 shows arrangement 20 of devices communicating over the Internet.Various devices such as client #1 24 a, client #2 24 b, client #3 24 c,client #4 24 d, and client #5 24 e, may communicate over the Internet113 for obtaining data from a data server #1 22 a and a data server #222 b. In one example, the servers are HTTP servers, sometimes known asweb servers. A method describing a more efficient communication over theInternet is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,560,604 to Shribman et al.,entitled: “System and Method for Providing Faster and More EfficientData Communication” (hereinafter the “‘604 patent’”), which isincorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein. The method described in the '604 patent uses an accelerationserver 32 for managing the traffic in the network, as shown in FIG. 2. Asplitting of a message or a content into slices, and transferring eachof the slices over a distinct data path is described in U.S. PatentApplication No. 2012/0166582 to Binder entitled: “System and Method forRouting-Based Internet Security”, which is incorporated in its entiretyfor all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

A Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) is an error-detecting code commonly usedin digital networks and storage devices to detect accidental changes toraw data. Blocks of data entering these systems get a short check valueattached, based on the remainder of a polynomial division of theircontents; on retrieval the calculation is repeated, and correctiveaction can be taken against presumed data corruption if the check valuesdo not match. Ethernet commonly uses 32-bit CRC function. Specificationof a CRC code requires definition of a so-called generator polynomial.The polynomial becomes a divisor in a polynomial long division, whichtakes the message as the dividend, and in which the quotient isdiscarded and the remainder becomes the result. The important caveatthat the polynomial coefficients are calculated according to thearithmetic of a finite field, so the addition operation can always beperformed bitwise-parallel (there is no carry between digits). Thelength of the remainder is always less than the length of the generatorpolynomial, which therefore determines how long the result can be. Inpractice, all commonly used CRCs employ the finite field GF(2). This isthe field of two elements, usually called 0 and 1, comfortably matchingcomputer architecture.

A CRC is referred to as an n-bit CRC when its check value is n bits. Fora given n, multiple CRCs are possible, each with a different polynomial.Such a polynomial has highest degree n, which means it has n+1 terms. Inother words, the polynomial has a length of n+1; its encoding requiresn+1 bits. Note that most integer encodings either drop the MostSignificant Bit (MSB) or Least Significant Bit (LSB), since they arealways 1. The CRC and associated polynomial typically have a name of theform CRC-n-XXX. The simplest error-detection system, the parity bit, isin fact a trivial 1-bit CRC: it uses the generator polynomial x+1 (twoterms), and has the name CRC-1. Computation of a cyclic redundancy checkis derived from the mathematics of polynomial division, modulo two. Inpractice, it resembles long division of the binary message string, witha fixed number of zeroes appended, by the “generator polynomial” stringexcept that exclusive OR operations replace subtractions. Division ofthis type is efficiently realised in hardware by a modified shiftregister and in software by a series of equivalent algorithms, startingwith simple code close to the mathematics and becoming faster throughbyte-wise parallelism and space-time tradeoffs.

Various CRC standards extend the polynomial division algorithm byspecifying an initial shift register value, a final exclusive OR stepand, most critically, a bit ordering (endianness). As a result, the codeseen in practice deviates confusingly from “pure” division, and theregister may shift left or right. The most important attribute of thepolynomial is its length (largest degree—exponent—+1 of any one term inthe polynomial), because of its direct influence on the length of thecomputed check value. The most commonly used polynomial lengths are 9bits (CRC-8), 17 bits (CRC-16), 33 bits (CRC-32), and 65 bits (CRC-64).A calculation of CRC-32 is described in the publication entitled:“32-Bit Cyclic Redundancy Codes for Internet Applications” by PhilipKoopman of Carnegie Mellon University, presented at The InternationalConference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN) 2002.

A CRC is an example of a hash function, which refers to any functionthat can be used to map data of arbitrary size to data of fixed size,with slight differences in input data producing very big differences inan output data. Values returned by the hash function are called hashvalues, hash codes, hash sums, or simply hashes. Hash values arecommonly used to differentiate between data. For example, inimplementing a set in software, one has to avoid including an elementmore than once. Recent developments in internet payment networks alsouses a form of ‘hashing’ for producing checksums, bringing additionalattention to the term. Hash functions are primarily used to generatefixed-length output data that act as a shortened reference to theoriginal data. This is useful when the original data is too cumbersometo use in its entirety. Hash functions commonly include checksums, checkdigits, fingerprints, randomization functions, error-correcting codes,and ciphers.

One practical use is a data structure called a hash table where the datais stored associatively. Searching linearly for a person's name in alist becomes cumbersome as the length of the list increases, but thehashed value can be used to store a reference to the original data andretrieve constant time (barring collisions). Another use is incryptography, the science of encoding and safeguarding data. It is easyto generate hash values from input data and easy to verify that the datamatches the hash, but for certain hash functions hard to ‘fake’ a hashvalue to hide malicious data. Hash functions are also frequently used toaccelerate table lookup or data comparison tasks such as finding itemsin a database, detecting duplicated or similar records in a large fileand finding similar stretches in DNA sequences. A hash function shouldbe deterministic: when it is invoked twice on identical data (e.g. twostrings containing exactly the same characters), the function shouldproduce the same value. This is crucial to the correctness of virtuallyall algorithms based on hashing. In the case of a hash table, the lookupoperation should look at the slot where the insertion algorithm actuallystored the data that is being sought for, so it needs the same hashvalue.

Hash functions used to accelerate data searches typically producesmaller hash values, such as a 32 bit integer. On the other hand,cryptographic hash functions produce much larger hash value, in order toensure the computational complexity of brute-force inversion. Forexample SHA-1, one of the most widely used cryptographic hash functions,produces a 160-bit value. In both cases, the hash function breaks theinput data into chunks of specific size. Hash functions used for datasearches use an arithmetic expression which iteratively processes thosechunks (such as the characters in a string) to produce the hash value.In cryptographic hash functions, these chunks are processed by a one-waycompression function, with the last chunk being padded if necessary. Inthis case, their size, which is called block size, is much bigger thanthe size of the hash value. For example, in SHA-1, the hash value is 160bits and the block size 512 bits.

A hash table (a.k.a. Hash map) is a data structure that associates keyswith values, and is commonly used to support a lookup: given a key(e.g., a person's name), find the corresponding value (e.g., thatperson's telephone number), thus allowing to use a number to locate adesired value in a table. Hash tables are typically used to implement anassociative array, a structure that can map keys to values. A hash tableuses a hash function to compute an index into an array of buckets orslots, from which the correct value can be found. The hash function mayassign each key to a unique bucket, but typically hash table designsassume that hash collisions—different keys that are assigned by the hashfunction to the same bucket—will occur and must be accommodated in someway. In a well-dimensioned hash table, the average cost (number ofinstructions) for each lookup is independent of the number of elementsstored in the table. Many hash table designs also allow arbitraryinsertions and deletions of key-value pairs, at a constant average costper operation. In many situations, hash tables turn out to be moreefficient than search trees or any other table lookup structure, andthus are widely used in many kinds of computer software, particularlyfor associative arrays, database indexing, caches, and sets.

Filter driver. A filter driver is a Microsoft Windows compatible driverthat extends or modifies the function of peripheral devices or supportsa specialized device in a personal computer. It is a driver or programor module that is inserted into the existing driver stack to performsome specific function, while not affecting the normal working of theexisting driver stack in any major way. Any number of filter drivers canbe added to Windows, where upper level filter drivers sit above theprimary driver for the device (the function driver), while lower levelfilter drivers sit below the function driver and above a bus driver.Filter drivers may work on a certain brand of device such as a mouse orkeyboard, or they may perform some operation on a class of devices, suchas any mouse or any keyboard. A filter driver may be developed using theguide entitled: “Filter Driver Development Guide” Version 1.0a byMicrosoft Corporation, dated 2004, which is incorporated in its entiretyfor all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

Hook. A hook (also known as a hook procedure or hook function) is amechanism by which an application can intercept events, such asmessages, mouse actions, and keystrokes, and generally refers to afunction provided by a software application that receives certain databefore the normal or intended recipient of the data. The hook functioncan thus examine or modify certain data before passing on the data.Therefore, a hook function allows a software application to examine databefore the data is passed to the intended recipient. A function thatintercepts a particular type of event is known as a hook procedure. Thehook procedure can act on each event it receives, and then modify ordiscard the event. The term ‘hooking’ is used herein to include, but notlimited to, a range of techniques used to alter or augment the behaviorof an operating system, of applications, or of other software componentsby intercepting function calls, messages, or events passed betweensoftware components. A code that handles such intercepted functioncalls, events or messages is called a “hook”. Hooking is used for manypurposes, including debugging and extending functionality. Examplesmight include intercepting keyboard or mouse event messages before theyreach an application, or intercepting operating system calls in order tomonitor behavior or modify the function of an application or othercomponent. It is also widely used in benchmarking programs, for exampleframe rate measuring in 3D games, where the output and input is donethrough hooking. Hooking is described, for example, in the presentationsby High-Tech Bridge SA and titled: “Userland Hooking in Windows” datedAugust 2011, and “Inline Hooking in Windows” dated September 2011, bothby Brian Mariani, and both incorporated in their entirety for allpurposes as if fully set forth herein.

Physical modification. An hooking may be achieved by physicallymodifying an executable or library before an application is runningthrough techniques of reverse engineering. This is typically used tointercept function calls to either monitor or replace them entirely. Forexample, by using a disassembler, the entry point of a function within amodule can be found. It can then be altered to instead dynamically loadsome other library module and then have it execute desired methodswithin that loaded library. If applicable, another related approach bywhich hooking can be achieved is by altering an import table of anexecutable. This table can be modified to load any additional librarymodules as well as changing what external code is invoked when afunction is called by an application. An alternate method for achievingthe function of hooking is by intercepting function calls through awrapper library. When creating a wrapper, you make your own version of alibrary that an application loads, with all the same functionality ofthe original library that it will replace, so all the functions that areaccessible are essentially the same between the original and thereplacement. This wrapper library can be designed to call any of thefunctionality from the original library, or replace it with an entirelynew set of logic.

Runtime modification. Operating systems and software may provide themeans to easily insert event hooks at runtime, as long as the processinserting the hook is granted enough permission to do so. MicrosoftWindows allows to insert hooks that can be used to process or modifysystem events and application events for dialogs, scrollbars, and menus,as well as other items. It also allows a hook to insert, remove,process, or modify keyboard and mouse events. Linux provides anotherexample where hooks can be used in a similar manner to process networkevents within the kernel through NetFilter. When such functionality isnot provided, a special form of hooking employs intercepting libraryfunction calls that are made by a process. Function hooking isimplemented by changing the very first few code instructions of thetarget function to jump to an injected code. Alternatively on systemsusing the shared library concept, the interrupt vector table or theimport descriptor table can be modified in memory.

A hook chain is a list of pointers to special, application-definedcallback functions called hook procedures. When a message occurs that isassociated with a particular type of hook, the operating system passesthe message to each hook procedure referenced in the hook chain, oneafter the other. The action of a hook procedure can depend on the typeof hook involved. For example, the hook procedures for some types ofhooks can only monitor messages, others can modify the messages or stoptheir progress through the chain, restricting them from reaching thenext hook procedure or a destination window.

Plug-in. A plug-in (or ‘plugin’, ‘extension’, or ‘add-on’/‘addon’) is asoftware component that adds a specific feature to an existing softwareapplication, for example for enabling customization. The common examplesare the plug-ins used in web browsers to add new features such assearch-engines, virus scanners, or the ability to utilize a new filetype such as a new video format. An ‘Add-on’ (or ‘addon’) is the generalterm for what enhances an application, and comprises snap-in, plug-in,theme, and skin. An extension add-on tailors the core features of anapplication by adding an optional module, whereas a plug-in add-on wouldtailor the outer layers of an application to personalize functionality.A theme or a skin add-on is a preset package containing additional orchanged graphical appearance details, achieved by the use of a GraphicalUser Interface (GUI) that can be applied to a specific software andwebsites to suit the purpose, topic, or tastes of different users tocustomize the look and feel of a piece of computer software or anoperating system front-end GUI (and window managers).

Typically, the host application provides services which the plug-in canuse, including a way for plug-ins to register themselves with the hostapplication and a protocol for the exchange of data with plug-ins.Plug-ins depend on the services provided by the host application and donot usually work by themselves. Conversely, the host applicationoperates independently of the plug-ins, making it possible for end-usersto add and update plug-ins dynamically without needing to make changesto the host application. The term ‘plug-in’ is used herein to include,but not limited to, a software extension, which is software that servesto extend the capabilities of, or data available to an existing softwareapplication; it becomes included in the program. Therefore, afterintegration, extensions can be seen as part of the browser itself,tailored from a set of optional modules.

IPC. An Inter-Process Communication (IPC) (also be referred to asinter-thread communication and inter-application communication) is a setof methods for the exchange of data between multiple threads, in one ormore processes. IPC methods may use message passing, synchronization,shared memory, and Remote Procedure Calls (RPC). IPC provides anenvironment that allows process cooperation, and may be used forproviding Information sharing, computational speedup, modularity,convenience, and privilege separation. In the Windows operating systemenvironment, the IPC provides mechanisms for facilitating communicationsand data sharing between processes or applications.

Common IPC methods include file sharing, where a record (or any otherinformation) stored on disk (or any other memory) can be accessed byname by any process; a signal which is an asynchronous notification sentto a process or to a specific thread within the same process in order tonotify it of an event that occurred; a socket which is a data streamsent over a network interface, either to a different process on the samecomputer or to another computer, such as Internet sockets; a pipe (orpipeline) which is a two-way data stream interfaced through standardinput and output and is read character by character, commonly used inUnix-like computer operating systems; message queues which are anonymousdata stream similar to the pipe that stores and retrieves information inpackets, providing an asynchronous communications protocol; a semaphorewhich is a variable or abstract data type that is used for controllingaccess to a common resource; a shared memory which is a memory that maybe simultaneously accessed by multiple programs with an intent toprovide communication among them or avoid redundant copies, such aswhere one process creates an area in RAM which other processes canaccess; and memory mapped file, where a file that is physically presenton-disk, but can also be a device, shared memory object, or otherresource that the operating system can reference through a filedescriptor. Few IPC mechanisms are described in the Marko Vuskovicpublication ‘Operating Systems’ in Chapter 9 entitled: “INTERPROCESSCOMMUNICATION”, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposesas if fully set forth herein.

The Windows operating system supports IPC mechanisms such as aclipboard, where the clipboard acts as a central depository for datasharing among applications, so when a user performs a cut or copyoperation in an application, the application puts the selected data onthe clipboard in one or more standard or application-defined formats,and any other application can then retrieve the data from the clipboard,choosing from the available formats that it understands; using ComponentObject Model (COM), where applications that use Object Linking andEmbedding (OLE) manage compound documents can be used to call on otherapplications for data editing; Using Data Copy enabling an applicationto send information to another application using the WM_COPYDATAmessage; DDE protocol that enables applications to exchange data in avariety of formats; and mailslots providing one-way communication whereprocesses write messages to their mailslot.

Browser extension. A browser extension is a computer program thatextends the functionality of a web browser in some way. Extensions canbe created through use of web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, andCSS. Browser extensions can also improve the user interface of the webbrowser without directly affecting viewable content of a web page, whichcan be achieved through a variety of add ons such as toolbars andplug-ins. Microsoft Internet Explorer started supporting extensions fromversion 5 released in 1999. Mozilla Firefox has supported extensionssince its launch in 2004. The Opera desktop web browser supportedextensions from version 10 released in 2009. Google Chrome startedsupporting extensions from version 4 released in 2010. The Apple Safariweb browser started supporting native extensions from version 5 releasedin 2010. The syntax for extensions may differ from browser to browser,or at least enough different that an extension working on a browser doesnot work on another one.

Plug-ins add specific abilities into browsers using ApplicationProgramming Interfaces (APIs) allowing third parties to create plug-insthat interact with the browser. The original API was NPAPI, butsubsequently Google introduced the PPAPI interface in Chrome. Inaddition, plug-ins allow browser extensions to perform tasks such asblocking ads, creating a secure online connection, and addingapplications within a browser. Well-known browser plug-ins include theAdobe Flash Player, the QuickTime Player, and the Java plug-in, whichcan launch a user-activated Java applet on a web page to its execution alocal Java virtual machine.

Sockets. A socket (a.k.a. ‘network socket’) is an endpoint of an IPCflow across a computer network. In the case the communications is basedon IP (Internet Protocol), the network sockets are referred to asInternet sockets. A socket API is an application programming interface(API), usually provided by the operating system, that allows applicationprograms to control and use network sockets. Internet socket APIs areusually based on the Berkeley sockets standard. A socket address is thecombination of an IP address and a port number, similar to one end of atelephone connection in the combination of a phone number and aparticular extension. Based on this address, internet sockets deliverincoming data packets to the appropriate application process or thread.Sockets are further described in a University of Toronto, Department ofComputer Science presentation entitled: “Tutorial on Socket Programming”by Amin Tootoonchian, downloaded on August, 2014, and in the SASInstitute Inc. SHARE Session 5958 tutorial ‘C Socket ProgrammingTutorial’ entitled: “Writing Client/Server Programs in C Using Sockets(A Tutorial)Part I”, by Greg Granger, dated February of 1998, which areboth incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully setforth herein.

An Internet socket is characterized by a unique combination of a Localsocket address (Local IP address and port number), remote socket address(used for established TCP sockets), and the used Protocol, typically atransport protocol (e.g., TCP, UDP, raw IP, or others). Within theoperating system and the application that created a socket, a socket isreferred to by a unique integer value called a socket descriptor. Theoperating system forwards the payload of incoming IP packets to thecorresponding application by extracting the socket address informationfrom the IP and transport protocol headers and stripping the headersfrom the application data.

Several Internet socket types are available, such as Datagram sockets,also known as connectionless sockets, which use User Datagram Protocol(UDP), Stream sockets, also known as connection-oriented sockets, whichuse Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or Stream Control TransmissionProtocol (SCTP), and Raw sockets (or Raw IP sockets), typicallyavailable in routers and other network equipment. Here the transportlayer is bypassed, and the packet headers are made accessible to theapplication. Other socket types are implemented over other transportprotocols, such as Systems Network Architecture (SNA). Communicatinglocal and remote sockets are called socket pairs. Each socket pair isdescribed by a unique 4-tuple consisting of source and destination IPaddresses and port numbers, i.e. of local and remote socket addresses.In the TCP case, each unique socket pair 4-tuple is assigned a socketnumber, while in the UDP case, each unique local socket address isassigned a socket number.

The socket is primarily a concept used in the Transport Layer of theInternet model. Networking equipment such as routers and switches do notrequire implementations of the Transport Layer, as they operate on theLink Layer level (switches) or at the Internet Layer (routers). However,stateful network firewalls, network address translators, and proxyservers keep track of active socket pairs. Also in fair queuing, layer 3switching and quality of service (QoS) support in routers, packet flowsmay be identified by extracting information about the socket pairs. Rawsockets are typically available in network equipment and are used forrouting protocols such as IGRP and OSPF, and in Internet Control MessageProtocol (ICMP).

The amount of data transferred in a given period in commonly referred toas ‘bandwidth’ (BW) or ‘bit-rate’, which is the number of bits that areconveyed or processed per unit of time. The bit rate is quantified usingthe bits per second unit (symbol bit/s or b/s), often in conjunctionwith an SI prefix such as kilo- (1 kbit/s=1000 bit/s), mega- (1Mbit/s=1000 kbit/s), giga- (1 Gbit/s=1000 Mbit/s) or tera- (1Tbit/s=1000 Gbit/s). The non-standard abbreviation bps is often used toreplace the standard symbol bit/s, so that, for example, “1 Mbps” (or 1Mb/s) is used to mean one million bits per second. One byte per second(1 B/s) corresponds to 8 bit/s.

Latency is typically defined as a time interval between the stimulationand the response, or, from a more general point of view, as a time delaybetween the cause and the effect of some physical change in the systembeing observed. Network-related latency, such as in a packet-switchednetwork, is measured either one-way (the time from the source sending apacket to the destination receiving it), or Round-Trip delay Time (RTT),referring to the one-way latency from source to destination plus theone-way latency from the destination back to the source, plus any delaysat the destination, such as processing or other delays. Round-triplatency can be measured from a single point. Latency limits totalbandwidth in reliable two-way communication systems as described by thebandwidth-delay product, which refers to the product of a data link'scapacity (in bits per second) and its end-to-end delay (in seconds). Theresult, an amount of data measured in bits (or bytes), is equivalent tothe maximum amount of data on the network circuit at any given time,i.e., data that has been transmitted but not yet acknowledged. Sometimesit is calculated as the data link's capacity multiplied by its roundtrip time. A network with a large bandwidth-delay product is commonlyknown as a Long Fat Network (LFN). As defined in IETF RFC 1072, anetwork is considered an LFN if its bandwidth-delay product issignificantly larger than 105 bits (12500 bytes).

The Round-trip Delay Time (RTD) or Round-Trip Time (RTT) is the lengthof time it takes for a signal to be sent and to be received andprocessed at the destination node, plus the length of time it takes foran acknowledgment of that signal to be received. This time delaytherefore includes the propagation times between the two points of asignal. The signal is generally a data packet, and the RTT is also knownas the ping time, and an internet user can determine the RTT by usingthe ping command. Network links with both a high bandwidth and a highRTT can have a very large amount of data (the bandwidth-delay product)“in flight” at any given time. Such “long fat pipes” require a specialprotocol design. One example is the TCP window scale option. The RTT wasoriginally estimated in TCP by:RTT=(α·Old_RTT)+((1·−α)·New_Round_Trip_Sample), where a is a constantweighting factor (0≤α<1). Choosing a value α close to 1 makes theweighted average immune to changes that last a short time (e.g., asingle segment that encounters long delay). Choosing a value for α closeto 0 makes the weighted average response to changes in delay veryquickly. Once a new RTT is calculated, it is entered into the aboveequation to obtain an average RTT for that connection, and the procedurecontinues for every new calculation. The RTT may be measured asdescribed in IETF 1323, and may be estimated by using a method describedin IETF RFC 6323, which are both incorporated in their entirety for allpurposes as if fully set forth herein.

An estimation of RTT for messages using TCP may use Karn's Algorithm,described by Karn, Phil and Craig Partridge in ACM SIGCOMM '87—ComputerCommunication Review publication, entitled: “Improving Round-Trip TimeEstimates in Reliable Transport Protocols”, which is incorporated in itsentirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. The round triptime is estimated as the difference between the time that a segment wassent and the time that its acknowledgment was returned to the sender,but when packets are re-transmitted there is an ambiguity: theacknowledgment may be a response to the first transmission of thesegment or to a subsequent re-transmission. Karn's Algorithm ignoresre-transmitted segments when updating the round trip time estimate.Round trip time estimation is based only on unambiguous acknowledgments,which are acknowledgments for segments that were sent only once.

Many software platforms provide a service called ‘ping’ that can be usedto measure round-trip latency. Ping performs no packet processing; itmerely sends a response back when it receives a packet (i.e., performs ano-op), thus it is a first rough way of measuring latency. Ping operatesby sending Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo requestingpackets to the target host, and waiting for an ICMP response. Duringthis process it measures the time from transmission to reception(round-trip time) and records any packet loss. The results of the testare printed in a form of a statistical summary of the response packetsreceived, including the minimum, maximum, and the mean round-trip times,and sometimes the standard deviation of the mean.

The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suitenormally used on the Internet has included an Internet Message ControlProtocol (ICMP) that is commonly used in echo testing or ping and traceroute applications. In general, the Internet standard ‘ping’ or ‘ICMPecho’ has a request/response format, wherein one device sends an ICMPecho request and another device responds to a received ICMP echo requestwith a transmitted ICMP echo response. Normally, IP devices are expectedto implement the ICMP as part of the support for IP, to be able to useICMP for testing. Internet RFC 792, entitled “Internet Control MessageProtocol: DARPA Internet Program Protocol Specification”, which isincorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein, at least partially describes the behavior of ICMP. The ICMP echomessage has a type field, a code field, a checksum field, an identifierfield, a sequence number field, and a data field. According to RFC 79:“The data received in the echo message must be returned in the echoreply message”. Thus, an RFC compliant ping responders or an ICMP echoreply message responders are supposed to copy the received data field inan echo request message directly into the data field of the transmittedecho response message.

A newer version of ICMP known as ICMP version 6 or ICMPv6 as describedat least partially in RFCs 1885 and 2463, which are both entitled“Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMPv6) for the Internet ProtocolVersion 6 (IPv6) Specification”, which are both incorporated in theirentirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. According to RFC2463, “Every [IPv6] node MUST implement an ICMPv6 Echo responderfunction that receives Echo Requests and sends corresponding EchoReplies. An IPv6 node SHOULD also implement an application-layerinterface for sending Echo Requests and receiving Echo Replies, fordiagnostic purposes.”. Thus, responding to ICMP echo requests normallyis a necessary function in supporting IPv4 and/or IPv6 standards. TheICMPv6 RFCs 1885 and 2464 goes on to specify that the data field of anICMP echo response contains the “data from the invoking Echo Requestmessage.” Therefore, both ICMP and ICMP v6 associated with IPv4 andIPv6, respectively, specify that the data field in an ICMP echo replymessage is to essentially contain a copy of the data received in thecorresponding ICMP echo request message.

Moreover, the ICMP echo protocol is basically a two-way echo in whichone initiating device and/or process starts the communication bytransmitting an echo request message, which may be then received by anecho responder process. The echo responder process, generally located onanother device, receives the echo request message and responds with anecho reply back to the initiating process. Once the initiating deviceand/or process receives the response or times out waiting on theresponse, the two-way echo exchange of messages is complete. Althoughthe echo request and echo response normally are performed betweenprocesses on two different devices, one skilled in the art will be awarethat a device can ping its own IP address implying that the echo requestand echo responder reply processes are on the same device. In addition,the loopback address of network 127.0.0.0 in IPv4 can be used to allow adevice to the loopback outbound echo request messages back into thedevice's own incoming echo request responder processes. IPv6 has aloopback functionality as well.

This copying of data exactly in the ICMP echo response is somewhatwasteful because the responder generally does not convey that much (ifany) information back to the ICMP echo request initiating device.Arguably the initiating device could compute bit error rate (BER)statistics on the transmitted versus the received data field in ICMPecho packets. However, such physical layer issues as BER statisticsnormally are not as relevant for network layer IP datagranis thatalready include various error control code mechanisms. Arguably thedevice running the responding process can communicate information to thedevice running the initiating process by having the device running theoriginal responding process initiate its own echo request and wait foran echo response from the original initiating device. Such a solutionresults in four packets, with a first echo request from a local deviceresponded to by a first echo response from a remote device, and with asecond echo request from the remote device responded to by a second echoresponse from the local device.

An identifier and/or sequence number in ping packets generally hasallowed the ping to be used by a device to determine the round-tripdelay from the time an ICMP echo request packet is sent to the timecorresponding to when an associated received ICMP echo request isreceived back at an initiating device. Furthermore, ping packetsgenerally convey little or no information about the type of the devicethat initiated the ping. Moreover, although IPv4 has Type of Service(ToS) fields in the IP datagram, these fields have become more importantas the services used over the Internet and networks using Internettechnology have grown from basic computer data communication to alsoinclude real-time applications such as voice and/or video. Various Typeof Service (ToS) in IPv4 and IPv6 have been used in implementing various(Quality of Service) QoS characteristics that are defined for differentclasses of service and/or Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

Timestamp. A timestamp is a sequence of characters or encodedinformation identifying when a certain event occurred, usually givingdate and time of day, sometimes accurate to a small fraction of asecond, and also refers to digital date and time information attached tothe digital data. For example, computer files contain timestamps thattell when the file was last modified, and digital cameras add timestampsto the pictures they take, recording the date and time the picture wastaken. A timestamp is typically the time at which an event is recordedby a computer, not the time of the event itself. In many cases, thedifference may be inconsequential: the time at which an event isrecorded by a timestamp (e.g., entered into a log file) should be closeto the time of the event. Timestamps are typically used for loggingevents or in a Sequence of Events (SOE), in which case each event in thelog or SOE is marked with a timestamp. In a file system such as adatabase, timestamp commonly mean the stored date/time of creation ormodification of a file or a record. The ISO 8601 standard standardizesthe representation of dates and times which are often used to constructtimestamp values, and IETF RFC 3339 defines a date and time format foruse in Internet protocols using the ISO 8601 standard representation.

Caching. A system and method for increasing cache size by performing thesteps of: categorizing storage blocks within a storage device as withina first category of storage blocks if the storage blocks that areavailable to the system for storing data when needed; categorizingstorage blocks within the storage device as within a second category ofstorage blocks if the storage blocks contain application data therein;and categorizing storage blocks within the storage device as within athird category of storage blocks if the storage blocks are storingcached data and are available for storing application data if no firstcategory of storage blocks are available to the system, is described inU.S. Pat. No. 8,135,912 to Shribman et al. entitled: “System and Methodof Increasing Cache Size”, which is incorporated in its entirety for allpurposes as if fully set forth herein. A system for resolving DomainName System (DNS) queries that contains a communication device forresolving DNS queries, wherein the communication device further containsa memory and a processor that is configured by the memory, a cachestorage for use by the communication device, and a network ofauthoritative domain name servers, where in a process of thecommunication device looking up a DNS request within the cache storage,if the communication device views an expired DNS entry within the cachestorage, the communication device continues the process of looking upthe DNS request in the cache storage while, in parallel, sending out aconcurrent DNS request to an authoritative domain name server that theexpired DNS entry belongs to, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,671,221 tothe same inventors as this application, entitled: “Method and System forIncreasing Speed of Domain Name System Resolution within a ComputingDevice”, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as iffully set forth herein.

Systems and methods of storing previously transmitted data and using itto reduce bandwidth usage and accelerate future communications, andusing algorithms to identify long compression history matches. A networkdevice that may improve compression efficiency and speed is described inU.S. Pat. No. 7,865,585 to Samuels et al., entitled: “Systems andMethods for Providing Dynamic AdHok Proxy-Cache Hierarchies”, which isincorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein. Further, a method and system for accelerating the receipt ofdata in a client-to-client network described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,203,741to Marco et al., entitled: “Method and System for Accelerating Receiptof Data in a Client-to-Client Network”, which is incorporated in itsentirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

Hearbeat. A heartbeat is a periodic signal generated by hardware orsoftware to indicate normal operation or to synchronize other parts of asystem. Usually a heartbeat is sent between machines at a regularinterval of an order of seconds. If a heartbeat is not received for atime-usually a few heartbeat intervals—the machine that should have sentthe heartbeat is assumed to have failed. As used herein, a heartbeat isa periodic message, such as a ‘ping’, generated by devices connected tothe Internet to indicate being ‘online’ (connected to the Internet) andnormal operation, and if a heartbeat is not received for a time, thedevice is assumed to be ‘offline’ (not connected to the Internet). Aheartbeat protocol is generally used to negotiate and monitor theavailability of a resource, such as a floating IP address. Typically,when a heartbeat starts on a machine, it will perform an electionprocess with other machines on the network to determine which machine,if any, owns the resource. The IETF RFC 6520 describes Heartbeatoperation for the Transport Layer Security (TLS), and is incorporated inits entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

Users in the Internet may desire anonymity in order not to be identifiedas a publisher (sender), or reader (receiver), of information. Commonreasons include censorship at the local, organizational, or nationallevel, personal privacy preferences such as preventing tracking or datamining activities, the material or its distribution is consideredillegal or incriminating by possible eavesdroppers, the material may belegal but socially deplored, embarrassing, or problematic in theindividual's social world, and fear of retribution (againstwhistleblowers, unofficial leaks, and activists who do not believe inrestrictions on information nor knowledge). Full anonymity on theInternet, however, is not guaranteed since IP addresses can be tracked,allowing to identify the computer from which a certain post was made,albeit not the actual user. Anonymizing services, such as I2P—‘TheAnonymous Network’ or Tor, address the issue of IP tracking, as theirdistributed technology approach may grant a higher degree of securitythan centralized anonymizing services where a central point exists thatcould disclose one's identity. An anonymous web browsing refers tobrowsing the World Wide Web while hiding the user's IP address and anyother personally identifiable information from the websites that one isvisiting. There are many ways of accomplishing anonymous web browsing.Anonymous web browsing is generally useful to internet users who want toensure that their sessions cannot be monitored. For instance, it is usedto circumvent traffic monitoring by organizations that want to find outor control which web sites employees visit. Further, since someweb-sites response differently when approached from mobile devices,anonymity may allow for accessing such a web-site from a non-mobiledevice, posing as a mobile device.

WiFi. A device herein (such as device 11) may consist of, be part of, orinclude, a Personal Computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobilecomputer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, aserver computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, a PersonalDigital Assistant (PDA) device, or a cellular handset. Alternatively orin addition, a device may consist of, be part of, or include, a handheldPDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, avehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile device, or a portabledevice. A network herein (such as LAN 14), may consist of, be part of,or include, a wired or wireless network, a Local Area Network (LAN), aWireless LAN (WLAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a Wireless MAN(WMAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Wireless WAN (WWAN), a PersonalArea Network (PAN), or a Wireless PAN (WPAN). Alternatively or inaddition, a network herein may be operating substantially in accordancewith existing IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11k, 802.11n,802.11r, 802.16, 802.16d, 802.16e, 802.20, 802.21 standards and/orfuture versions and/or derivatives of the above standards. Further, anetwork element (or a device) herein may consist of, be part of, orinclude, a cellular radio-telephone communication system, a cellulartelephone, a wireless telephone, a Personal Communication Systems (PCS)device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device,or a mobile/portable Global Positioning System (GPS) device. Thecommunication interface 29 may consist of, be part of, or include, atransceiver or modem for communication with the network, such as LAN 14.In the case of wired networks, the communication interface 29 connectsto the network via a port 28 that may include a connector, and in thecase of wireless network, the communication interface 29 connects to thenetwork via a port 28 that may include an antenna.

The LAN 14 may be a Wireless LAN (WLAN) such as according to, or baseon, IEEE 802.11-2012, and the WLAN port may be a WLAN antenna and theWLAN transceiver may be a WLAN modem. The WLAN may be according to, orbase on, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, or IEEE802.11ac. Commonly referred to as Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN),such communication makes use of the Industrial, Scientific and Medical(ISM) frequency spectrum. In the US, three of the bands within the ISMspectrum are the A-Band, 902-928 MHz; the B-Band, 2.4-2.484 GHz (a.k.a.2.4 GHz); and the C-Band, 5.725-5.875 GHz (a.k.a. 5 GHz). Overlappingand/or similar bands are used in different regions such as Europe andJapan. In order to allow interoperability between equipment manufacturedby different vendors, few WLAN standards have evolved, as part of theIEEE 802.11 standard group, branded as WiFi (www.wi-fi.org). The IEEE802.11b standard describes a communication using the 2.4 GHz frequencyband and supporting a communication rate of 11 Mb/s, IEEE 802.11a usesthe 5 GHz frequency band to carry 54 MB/s, and IEEE 802.11g uses the 2.4GHz band to support 54 Mb/s. The WiFi technology is further described ina publication entitled: “WiFi Technology” by Telecom RegulatoryAuthority, published on July 2003, which is incorporated in its entiretyfor all purposes as if fully set forth herein. The IEEE 802 defines anad-hoc connection between two or more devices without using a wirelessaccess point: the devices communicate directly when in range. An ad hocnetwork offers peer-to-peer layout and is commonly used in situationssuch as a quick data exchange or a multiplayer LAN game, because thesetup is easy and an access point is not required.

In order to support multiple devices and using a permanent solution, aWireless Access Point (WAP) is typically used. A Wireless Access Point(WAP, or Access Point—AP) is a device that allows wireless devices toconnect to a wired network using Wi-Fi, or related standards. The WAPusually connects to a router (via a wired network) as a standalonedevice, but it can also be an integral component of the router itself.Using Wireless Access Point (AP) allows users to add devices that accessthe network with little or no cables. A WAP normally connects directlyto a wired Ethernet connection and the AP then provides wirelessconnections using radio frequency links for other devices to utilizethat wired connection. Most APs support the connection of multiplewireless devices to one wired connection. An example of using WAPs isshown in a system 20 a shown in FIG. 2b , where a device 11 a(corresponding to the device 11 above) may communicate, and for example,any access the Internet, via any one of a WAPs 26 a, 26 b, or 26 c.Wireless access typically involves special security considerations,since any device within a range of the WAP can attach to the network.The most common solution is wireless traffic encryption. Modern accesspoints come with built-in encryption such as Wired Equivalent Privacy(WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), typically used with a passwordor a passphrase. A WAP may not be password protected, allowing freeaccess (for example to the Internet via the WAP) to any devicecommunicating with it, such as WAP 26 a shown in system 20 a. However,most WAPs, such as WAPs 26 b and 26 c shown in system 20 a (denoted withthe lock symbol), are password protected, allowing access only tospecific users which can use the password.

Authentication in general, and a WAP authentication in particular, isused as the basis for authorization, which is the determination whethera privilege may be granted to a particular user or process, privacy,which keeps information from becoming known to non-participants, andnon-repudiation, which is the inability to deny having done somethingthat was authorized to be done based on the authentication. Anauthentication in general, and a WAP authentication in particular, mayuse an authentication server, that provides a network service thatapplications may use to authenticate the credentials, usually accountnames and passwords, of their users. When a client submits a valid setof credentials, it receives a cryptographic ticket that it cansubsequently use to access various services. Authentication algorithmsinclude passwords, Kerberos, and public key encryption.

Compression. Data compression, also known as source coding and bit-ratereduction, involves encoding information using fewer bits than theoriginal representation. Compression can be either lossy or lossless.Lossless compression reduces bits by identifying and eliminatingstatistical redundancy, so that no information is lost in losslesscompression. Lossy compression reduces bits by identifying unnecessaryinformation and removing it. The process of reducing the size of a datafile is commonly referred to as a data compression. A compression isused to reduce resource usage, such as data storage space ortransmission capacity. Data compression is further described in aCarnegie Mellon University chapter entitled: “Introduction to DataCompression” by Guy E. Blelloch, dated Jan. 31, 2013, which isincorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein.

In a scheme involving lossy data compression, some loss of informationis acceptable. For example, dropping of a nonessential detail from adata can save storage space. Lossy data compression schemes may beinformed by research on how people perceive the data involved. Forexample, the human eye is more sensitive to subtle variations inluminance than it is to variations in color. JPEG image compressionworks in part by rounding off nonessential bits of information. There isa corresponding trade-off between preserving information and reducingsize. A number of popular compression formats exploit these perceptualdifferences, including those used in music files, images, and video.

Lossy image compression is commonly used in digital cameras, to increasestorage capacities with minimal degradation of picture quality.Similarly, DVDs use the lossy MPEG-2 Video codec for video compression.In lossy audio compression, methods of psychoacoustics are used toremove non-audible (or less audible) components of the audio signal.Compression of human speech is often performed with even morespecialized techniques; speech coding, or voice coding, is sometimesdistinguished as a separate discipline from audio compression. Differentaudio and speech compression standards are listed under audio codecs.Voice compression is used in Internet telephony, for example, and audiocompression is used for CD ripping and is decoded by audio player.

Lossless data compression algorithms usually exploit statisticalredundancy to represent data more concisely without losing information,so that the process is reversible. Lossless compression is possiblebecause most real-world data has statistical redundancy. The Lempel-Ziv(LZ) compression methods are among the most popular algorithms forlossless storage. DEFLATE is a variation on LZ optimized fordecompression speed and compression ratio, and is used in PKZIP, Gzipand PNG. The LZW (Lempel-Ziv-Welch) method is commonly used in GIFimages, and is described in IETF RFC 1951. The LZ methods use atable-based compression model where table entries are substituted forrepeated strings of data. For most LZ methods, this table is generateddynamically from earlier data in the input. The table itself is oftenHuffman encoded (e.g., SHRI, LZX). Typical modern lossless compressorsuse probabilistic models, such as prediction by partial matching.

Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) is an example of lossless data compressionalgorithm created by Abraham Lempel, Jacob Ziv, and Terry Welch. Thealgorithm is simple to implement, and has the potential for very highthroughput in hardware implementations. It was the algorithm of thewidely used Unix file compression utility compress, and is used in theGIF image format. The LZW and similar algorithms are described in U.S.Pat. No. 4,464,650 to Eastman et al. entitled: “Apparatus and Method forCompressing Data Signals and Restoring the Compressed Data Signals”, inU.S. Pat. No. 4,814,746 to Miller et al. entitled: “Data CompressionMethod”, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,302 to Welch entitled: “High SpeedData Compression and Decompression Apparatus and Method”, which are allincorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein.

A class of lossless data compression algorithms is based on usingdictionaries, and operates by searching for matches between the text tobe compressed and a set of strings contained in a data structure (calledthe ‘dictionary’) maintained by the encoder. When the encoder finds sucha match, it substitutes a reference to the string's position in the datastructure.

Some dictionary coders use a ‘static dictionary’, one whose full set ofstrings is determined before coding begins and does not change duringthe coding process. This approach is most often used when the message orset of messages to be encoded is fixed and large. A dictionary is oftenbuilt from redundancy extracted from a data environment (various inputstreams) which dictionary is then used statically to compress a furtherinput stream. For example, a dictionary may be built from old Englishtexts then is used to compress a book. More common are methods where thedictionary starts in some predetermined state, but the contents changeduring the encoding process, based on the data that has already beenencoded.

Both the LZ77 and LZ78 algorithms work on this principle, where in LZ77,a circular buffer called the “sliding window” holds the last N bytes ofdata processed, which serves as the dictionary, effectively storingevery substring that has appeared in the past N bytes as dictionaryentries. Instead of a single index identifying a dictionary entry, twovalues are needed: the length, indicating the length of the matchedtext, and the offset (also called the distance), indicating that thematch is found in the sliding window starting offset bytes before thecurrent text. LZ78 uses a more explicit dictionary structure; at thebeginning of the encoding process, the dictionary only needs to containentries for the symbols of the alphabet used in the text to becompressed, but the indexes are numbered in order to leave spaces formany more entries. At each step of the encoding process, the longestentry in the dictionary that matches the text is found, and its index iswritten to the output; the combination of that entry and the characterthat followed it in the text is then added to the dictionary as a newentry. An example of a dictionary-based compression is described in anUniversity of Michigan paper entitled: “Dictionary-Based Compression forLong Time-Series Similarity” by Willis Lang, Michael Morse, and JigneshM. Patel, downloaded from http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/ on August 2014,which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully setforth herein.

A one-way dictionary-based compression system is shown as a system 470in FIG. 4. An encoding device 471 is shown to transmit data, such asDATA_1 to a decoding device 472 via a network 480, which may be theInternet 113. The encoding device 471 comprises an encoder 474 (alsoreferred to as a coder, data coder, or data compressor), serving tocompress DATA_1 received at an input port 475 a into a DATA_2 (which isa lossless compression of DATA_1, preferably having a lower number ofbits or lower data-rate that DATA_1) at an output port 475 b, using thecontent in a shared dictionary 473 a. The output DATA_2 is transmittedvia the network 480, and is received at an input port 476 a of a decoder477 (also referred to as a data decoder or data decompressor) in thedecoding device 472. Using a shared dictionary 473 b in the decodingdevice 472, which preferably includes the same content as in the shareddictionary 473 a of the encoding device 471, the decoder 477reconstructs the original data DATA_1 at an output port 476 b.

A two-way dictionary-based compression system is shown as a system 470 ain FIG. 4a . An encoding/decoding device 471 c includes thefunctionalities of an encoding device 471 a for transmitting, and of adecoding device 472 a for receiving data. Similarly, anencoding/decoding device 472 c includes the functionalities of theencoding device 471 a for transmitting, and of the decoding device 472 afor receiving data. In addition to the functionality of the decodingdevice 472 a, the encoding/decoding device 472 c is shown to alsotransmit data, such as DATA_3 to the encoding/decoding device 471 c viathe network 480, which may be the Internet 113. The encoding/decodingdevice 472 c comprises an encoder 474 b (also referred to as a coder,data coder, or data compressor), serving to compress DATA_3 received atan input port 475 c into a DATA_4 (which is a lossless compression ofDATA_3, preferably having a lower number of bits or lower data-rate thatDATA_3) at an output port 475 d, using the content in a shareddictionary 473 d. The output DATA_4 is transmitted via the network 480,and is received at an input port 476 d of a decoder 477 b (also referredto as a data decoder or data decompressor) in the encoding/decodingdevice 471 c. Using the shared dictionary 473 c in the encoding/decodingdevice 471 c, which preferably includes the same content as in theshared dictionary 473 d of the encoding/decoding device 472 c, thedecoder 477 b reconstructs the original data DATA_3 at an output port476 c.

Image/video. Any content herein may consist of, be part of, or include,an image or a video content. A video content may be in a digital videoformat that may be based on one out of: TIFF (Tagged Image File Format),RAW format, AVI, DV, MOV, WMV, MP4, DCF (Design Rule for Camera Format),ITU-T H.261, ITU-T H.263, ITU-T H.264, ITU-T CCIR 601, ASF, Exif(Exchangeable Image File Format), and DPOF (Digital Print Order Format)standards. A intraframe or interframe compression may be used, and thecompression may a lossy or a non-lossy (lossless) compression, that maybe based on a standard compression algorithm, which may be one or moreout of JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) and MPEG (Moving PictureExperts Group), ITU-T H.261, ITU-T H.263, ITU-T H.264 and ITU-T CCIR601.

Web Analytics. Web analytics typically refers to the measurement,collection, analysis, and reporting of web data for purposes ofunderstanding and optimizing web usage. Web analytics is commonly usedfor measuring web traffic, and may be used as a tool for business andmarket research, as well as to assess and improve the effectiveness of aweb site. Web analytics applications can also help companies measure theresults of traditional print or broadcast advertising campaigns. Forexample, it helps one to estimate how traffic to a website changes afterthe launch of a new advertising campaign. The web analytics provideinformation about the number of visitors to a website and the number ofpage views, and helps gauge traffic and popularity trends, which may beuseful for market research. Web analytics related description andmethods are described in a whitepaper by E-Nor, Inc. entitled: “A 7-StepAnalytics Reporting Framework Marketing Optimization Whitepaper” byFeras Alhlou, downloaded on August 2014, and in U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,370to Hammer et al., entitled: “Determining Web Analytics Information”, inU.A. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0046562 to Butler entitled:“Visual Web Page Analytics”, and in U.S. Pat. No. 7,941,525 toYavilevich entitled: “Method and System for Monitoring an Activity of aUser”, which are all incorporated in their entirety for all purposes asif fully set forth herein.

There are two categories of web analytics: off-site and on-site webanalytics. Off-site web analytics refers to web measurement andanalysis, and includes the measurement of a website's potential audience(opportunity), share of voice (visibility), and buzz (comments) that ishappening on the Internet. On-site web analytics measure a visitor'sbehavior once on the website, and includes its drivers and conversions;for example, the degree to which different landing pages are associatedwith online purchases. On-site web analytics typically measures theperformance of the website in a commercial context, and this data istypically compared against key performance indicators for performance,and used to improve a web site or marketing campaign's audienceresponse. Google Analytics is a widely used on-site web analyticsservice; although new tools are emerging that provide additional layersof information, including heat maps and session replay.

Google Analytics is a service offered by Google that generates detailedstatistics about a website's traffic and traffic sources and measuresconversions and sales. The product is aimed at marketers as opposed towebmasters and technologists from which the industry of web analyticsoriginally grew. Google Analytics can track visitors from all referrers,including search engines and social networks, direct visits andreferring sites, and also tracks display advertising, pay-per-clicknetworks, email marketing and digital collateral such as links withinPDF documents. Integrated with AdWords, users can now review onlinecampaigns by tracking landing page quality and conversions (goals).Goals might include sales, lead generation, viewing a specific page, ordownloading a particular file.

Google Analytics is implemented with “page tags”. A page tag, in thiscase called the Google Analytics Tracking Code is a snippet ofJavaScript code that the website owner user adds to every page of thewebsite. The tracking code runs in the client browser when the clientbrowses the page (if JavaScript is enabled in the browser), and collectsvisitor data and sends it to a Google data collection server, as part ofa request for a web beacon. The tracking code loads a larger JavaScriptfile from the Google webserver and then sets variables with the user'saccount number. The larger file (currently known as ga.js) is typically18 KB. The file does not usually have to be loaded, though, because ofbrowser caching. Assuming caching is enabled in the browser, itdownloads ga.js only once at the start of the visit. Furthermore, as allwebsites that implement Google Analytics with the ga.js code use thesame master file from Google, a browser that has previously visited anyother website running Google Analytics will already have the file cachedon their machine. In addition to transmitting information to a Googleserver, the tracking code sets first party cookies (If cookies areenabled in the browser) on each visitor's computer. These cookies storeanonymous information, such as whether the visitor has been to the sitebefore (new or returning visitor), the timestamp of the current visit,and the referrer site or campaign that directed the visitor to the page(e.g., search engine, keywords, banner, or email). Google Analytics isfurther described in an Koozai Ltd. guide entitled: “The Practical GuideTo Google Analytics For Business”, 2^(nd) Edition, published 2013, byAnna Lewis, Graeme Benge, and Gemma Hollooway, which is incorporated inits entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

DHCP. The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a standardizednetworking protocol used on Internet Protocol (IP) networks fordynamically distributing network configuration parameters, such as IPaddresses for interfaces and services. With DHCP, network elementsrequest IP addresses and networking parameters automatically from a DHCPserver, reducing the need for a network administrator or a user toconfigure these settings manually.

DHCP is typically used by network elements for requesting InternetProtocol parameters, such as an IP address from a network server, and isbased on the client-server model. When a network element connects to anetwork, its DHCP client software in the operating system sends abroadcast query requesting necessary information. Any DHCP server on thenetwork may service the request. The DHCP server manages a pool of IPaddresses and information about client configuration parameters such asdefault gateway, domain name, the name servers, and time servers. Onreceiving a request, the server may respond with specific informationfor each client, as previously configured by an administrator, or with aspecific address and any other information valid for the entire network,and the time period for which the allocation (lease) is valid. A hosttypically queries for this information immediately after booting, andperiodically thereafter before the expiration of the information. Whenan assignment is refreshed by the client computer, it initially requeststhe same parameter values, and may be assigned a new address from theserver, based on the assignment policies set by administrators.

Depending on implementation, the DHCP server may have three methods ofallocating IP-addresses: (a) Dynamic allocation, where a networkadministrator reserves a range of IP addresses for DHCP, and each clientcomputer on the LAN is configured to request an IP address from the DHCPserver during network initialization. The request-and-grant process usesa lease concept with a controllable time period, allowing the DHCPserver to reclaim (and then reallocate) IP addresses that are notrenewed. (b) Automatic allocation, where the DHCP server permanentlyassigns an IP address to a requesting client from the range defined bythe administrator. This is similar to dynamic allocation, but the DHCPserver keeps a table of past IP address assignments, so that it canpreferentially assign to a client the same IP address that the clientpreviously had. (c) Static allocation, where the DHCP server allocatesan IP address based on a preconfigured mapping to each client's MACaddress.

DHCP used for Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is described in IETFRFC 2131, entitled “Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol”, and DHCP forIPv6 is described IETF RFC 3315, entitled: “Dynamic Host ConfigurationProtocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6)”, both incorporated in their entirety for allpurposes as if fully set forth herein. While both versions serve thesame purpose, the details of the protocol for IPv4 and IPv6 aresufficiently different that they may be considered separate protocols.For IPv6 operation, devices may alternatively use stateless addressautoconfiguration. IPv4 hosts may also use link-local addressing toachieve operation restricted to the local network link.

The DHCP protocol employs a connectionless service model, using the UserDatagram Protocol (UDP). It is implemented with two UDP port numbers forits operations, which are the same as for the BOOTP protocol. The UDPport number 67 is the destination port of a server, and the UDP portnumber 68 is used by the client. DHCP operations fall into four phases:Server discovery, IP lease offer, IP request, and IP leaseacknowledgment. These stages are often abbreviated as DORA fordiscovery, offer, request, and acknowledgment. The DHCP protocoloperation begins with clients broadcasting a request. If the client andserver are on different subnets, a DHCP Helper or DHCP Relay Agent maybe used. Clients requesting renewal of an existing lease may communicatedirectly via an UDP unicast, since the client already has an establishedIP address at that point.

Redundancy. A redundancy may be used in order to improve an accuracy,reliability, or availability. The redundancy may be implemented wheretwo or more components may be used for the same functionality. Thecomponents may be similar, substantially or fully the same, identical,different, substantially different, or distinct from each other, or anycombination thereof. The redundant components may be concurrentlyoperated, allowing for improved robustness and allowing for overcoming aSingle Point Of Failure (SPOF), or alternatively one or more of thecomponents serves as a backup. The redundancy may be a standbyredundancy, which may be ‘Cold Standby’ and ‘Hot Standby’. In the casethree redundant components are used, Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR) maybe used, and Quadruple Modular Redundancy (QMR) may be used in the caseof four components. A 1:N Redundancy logic may be used for three or morecomponents. A communication system employing redundancy is described inU.S. patent Application No. 2013/0201316 to Binder et al., entitled:“System and Method for Server Based Control”, and redundancy forcarrying audio over the Internet is described in IETF RFC 2198 entitled:“RTP Payload for Redundant Audio Data”, both are incorporated in theirentirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

Parallel Redundancy Protocol (PRP) is a data communication networkstandardized by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) asIEC 62439-3 Clause 4, which allows systems to overcome any singlenetwork failure without affecting the data transmission by usingredundancy. Under PRP, each network node has two Ethernet ports attachedto two different local area networks of arbitrary, but similar topology,and the two LANs are completely separated and are assumed to befail-independent. A source node sends simultaneously two copies of aframe, one over each port. The two frames travel through theirrespective LANs until they reach a destination node, in the fault-freecase, with a certain time skew. The destination node accepts the firstframe of a pair and discards the second, taking advantage of a sequencenumber in each frame that is incremented for each frame sent. Therefore,as long as one LAN is operational, the destination always receives oneframe. This protocol provides a zero-time recovery and allows checkingthe redundancy continuously to detect lurking failures. The PRP isdescribed in an ABB Switzerland Ltd. 2012 presentation entitled “HighlyAvailable Automation Networks Standard Redundancy Methods Rationalebehind the IEC 63429 standard suite”, and in a Zurich Universitytutorial entitled: “Tutorial on Parallel redundancy Protocol (PRP)”, byProf Hans Weibel, downloaded July 2014, both are incorporated in theirentirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

Gateway. The term ‘gateway’ is used herein to include, but not limitedto, a network element (or node) that is equipped for interfacing betweennetworks that uses different protocols. A gateway typically containscomponents such as protocol translators, impedance matching devices,rate converters, fault isolators, or signal translators, as necessary toprovide networking interoperability. A gateway may be a router or aproxy server that routes between networks, and may operate at anynetwork layer. In a network for an enterprise, a computer server actingas a gateway node is often also acting as a proxy server and a firewallserver. A gateway is often associated with both a router, which knowswhere to direct a given packet of data that arrives at the gateway, anda switch, which furnishes the actual path in and out of the gateway fora given packet.

A subnet mask is a mask used to determine what subnet belongs to an IPaddress. An IP address has two components, the network address and thehost address. For example, consider the IP address 150.215.017.009.Assuming this is part of a Class B network, the first two numbers(150.215) represent the Class B network address, and the second twonumbers (017.009) identify a particular host on this network. Asubnetting enables the network administrator to further divide the hostpart of the address into two or more subnets. In this case, a part ofthe host address is reserved to identify the particular subnet. On an IPnetwork, clients should automatically send IP packets with a destinationoutside a given subnet mask to a network gateway. A subnet mask definesthe IP range of a private network. For example, if a private network hasa base IP address of 192.168.0.0 and has a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0,then any data going to an IP address outside of 192.168.0.X will be sentto that network gateway. While forwarding an IP packet to anothernetwork, the gateway might or might not perform Network AddressTranslation (NAT).

Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical distributed naming system forcomputers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or aprivate network. It associates various information with domain namesassigned to each of the participating entities, and translates easilymemorized domain names to the numerical IP addresses needed for thepurpose of locating computer services and devices worldwide. The DNS isdescribed, for example, in the IETF RFC 3467 entitled: “Role of theDomain Name System (DNS)”, in the IETF RFC 6195 entitled: “Domain NameSystem (DNS) IANA Considerations”, and in the IETF RFC 1591 entitled:“Domain Name System Structure and Delegation”, which are incorporated intheir entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

The ‘404’ or ‘Not Found’ error message is a HTTP standard response codeindicating that the client was able to communicate with a given gatewayor server, but the server could not find what was requested. The website hosting server will typically generate a “404 Not Found” web pagewhen a user attempts to follow a broken or dead link; hence, the 404error is one of the most recognizable errors users can find on the web.When communicating via HTTP, a server is required to respond to arequest, such as a web browser request for a web page, with a numericresponse code and an optional, mandatory, or disallowed (based upon thestatus code) message. In the code 404, the first digit indicates aclient error, such as a mistyped Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Thefollowing two digits indicate the specific error encountered. At theHTTP level, a 404 response code is followed by a human-readable “reasonphrase”. The HTTP specification suggests the phrase “Not Found” and manyweb servers by default issue an HTML page that includes both the 404code and the “Not Found” phrase.

Referring to FIG. 50 showing a system 500 using a gateway #1 505 a as anintermediate device between a LAN 503 (which may be the LAN 14 inFIG. 1) and a WAN 502 (which may be the Internet 113). The gateway #1505 a allows an application 506 in the network element 504 tocommunicate with another network element such as a server 501 via thenetworks. The network element 504 typically includes a memory, such asthe main memory 25 a, the storage device 25 c, or the ROM 25 b, storinga software 508, which typically includes the application 506, which usesthe Operating System (OS) 507, which may be associated with the WDMarchitecture 430 shown in FIG. 3, or with the Linux architecture 450shown in FIG. 3a . As part of initializing of a communication sessionwith the network element 501, the OS 507 typically identifies thegateway 505 a in the LAN 503, and obtains therefrom the requiredinformation such as an IP address, a DNS server IP, a subnet mask, andother information to be used before and during the communicationsession. The gateway #1 505 a may consist of, include, be part of, orintegrated with, a network router or a WiFi router.

In consideration of the foregoing, it would be an advancement in the artto provide an improved functionality method and system that is simple,secure, anonymous, cost-effective, load balanced, redundant, reliable,provide lower CPU and/or memory usage, enable pipelining of requests andresponses, reduce network congestion, easy to use, reduce latency,faster, has a minimum part count, minimum hardware, and/or uses existingand available components, protocols, programs and applications forproviding better quality of service, overload avoidance, better oroptimal resources allocation, better communication and additionalfunctionalities, and provides a better user experience.

SUMMARY

A system may comprise multiple data servers and multiple client andtunnel devices, each data server may be storing a respective contentthat may be fetched by the client devices via the Internet. The tunneldevices may be used as intermediate devices (or nodes). Uponinitializing of the client and tunnel devices (such as upon powering upor upon launching the applicable software application), they sign-inwith an acceleration server, which stores an identification (such as IPaddress) of each of the client and tunnel devices. A client device,which may be requesting a content from a data server, first communicateswith the acceleration server to receive a list of the available tunneldevices. The client device may then select one (or more) tunnel device,and then executes a pre-connection process with the selected tunneldevice. Upon determining the need for a content to be fetched from thedata server, the client device sends a request to the tunnel device,which in turn fetches the required content from the data server, andsends the fetched content to the client device. Each of the devices(client or tunnel) and each of the servers (acceleration or data) may beidentified in the Internet using an IP address that may be in an IPv4 orIPv6 form. Alternatively or in addition to using an intermediary devicesuch as the tunnel device (or multiple tunnel devices), the clientdevice may directly access and fetch content from the data server,without using any intermediate device such as a tunnel device. A devicemay be both a client device and a tunnel device, and the roles may beassumed one at a time, or may be employed in parallel using multitaskingor multiprocessing.

The required communication of requests and content between the clientdevice and the selected tunnel device may be preceded by apre-connection phase used for establishing a connection between thedevices, which may be later used for the required request or contenttransfer. The devices may communicate using VPN or TCP, and a connectionmay be established by performing ‘Active OPEN’ or ‘Passive OPEN’. Thecontent may include files, text, numbers, audio, voice, multimedia,video, images, music, computer programs or any other sequence ofinstructions, as well as any other form of information represented as astring of bits or bytes. In one example, the content may include, be apart of, or a whole of, a website page.

One or a plurality of tunnel devices may be used. Further, a device maydirectly access the data server, hence acting as its own tunnel device.The selection of a tunnel or of multiple tunnels to be used by theclient device may be based on pre-set criteria. The selection may usevarious attributes or characteristics of the tunnel devices, itsoperation environment, history, and any other characteristics. Theattributes associated with each tunnel device may be stored in theacceleration server, and sent to the client device as part of theavailable tunnel devices list, so that the client device may use theseattributes for the selection process. The criteria herein may be usedindependently or in combination. In yet another alternative, theselection may be based on a timing, such as Time-Of-Day (TOD) or a dayof the week.

The tunnel device (or devices) to be used may be randomly selected;using a random number generator may be based on a physical process, ormay be software based using pseudo-random numbers. Alternatively or inaddition, the tunnel device (or devices) to be used may be selectedbased on physical geographical location, such as based on the physicalproximity to another device in the system, such as the data server.Alternatively or in addition, the tunnel device (or devices) to be usedmay be selected based on their IP address or addresses. Alternatively orin addition, the tunnel device (or devices) to be used may be selectedbased on their sign-in time, or the time of its last activity as atunnel.

The content requested by the client device may be partitioned intomultiple parts or ‘slices’. Any number of slices may be used. Theslicing may be in a bit, nibble (4-bits), byte (8-bits), word (multiplebytes), character, string, or a file level. The partition may be intoequal length parts, or may use different length slicing. The content maybe composed of inherent or identifiable parts or segments, and thepartition may make use of these parts. The content may be a websitecontent composed of multiple webpages, and each slice may include one(or few) webpages. Further, the partition may be sequential ornon-sequential in the content. The partitioning may be non-overlappingor overlapping.

A method is disclosed for fetching over the Internet a first content,identified by a first content identification, by a first device,identified in the Internet by a first identifier, from a second serveridentified in the Internet by a third identifier via a second deviceidentified in the Internet by a second identifier, by using a firstserver. The method may be comprising the steps of the second devicesending the second identifier to the first server; in response toreceiving the second identifier, the first server storing the secondidentifier; the first device sending a first request to the firstserver; in response to receiving the first request, the first serversending the second identifier to the first device; the first devicesending a second request to the second device using the secondidentifier, the second request includes the first content identificationand the third identifier; in response to receiving the second request,the second device sending the first content identification to the secondserver using the third identifier; in response to receiving the firstcontent identification, the second server sending the first content tothe second device; and in response to receiving the first content, thesecond device sending the first content to the first device.

The method may further comprise the following steps of the first devicesending the first content identification to the second server using thethird identifier; and in response to receiving the first contentidentification, the second server sending the first content to the firstdevice. These steps may be performed before, after, or concurrently(using multitasking or multiprocessing) with any of the former steps.

The method may further be used with a third device identified in theInternet by a fourth identifier, and may further comprise the steps ofthe third device sending the fourth identifier to the first server; inresponse to receiving the fourth identifier, the first server storingthe fourth identifier; in response to receiving the first request, thefirst server sending the fourth identifier to the first device; thefirst device sending a third request to the third device using thefourth identifier, the third request includes the first contentidentification and the third identifier; in response to receiving thethird request, the third device sending the first content identificationto the second server using the third identifier; in response toreceiving the first content identification, the second server sendingthe first content to the third device; and in response to receiving thefirst content, the third device sending the first content to the firstdevice. These steps may be performed before, after, or concurrently(using multitasking or multiprocessing) with any of the former steps.

The method may further be used with a group consisting of a plurality ofdevices, each associated with a respective identifier for beingidentified in the Internet, for each of the devices in the group themethod further comprising the steps of the group device sending theassociated identifier to the first server; and in response to receivingthe associated identifier, the first server storing the associatedidentifier. Further, in response to receiving the first request, thefirst server may be sending the identifiers of all the devices in thegroup to the first device. The method may further comprise the steps ofthe first device sending a third request to the group device using thedevice associated identifier, the third request includes the firstcontent identification and the third identifier; in response toreceiving the third request, the group device sending the first contentidentification to the second server using the third identifier; inresponse to receiving the first content identification, the secondserver sending the first content to the group device; and in response toreceiving the first content, the group device sending the first contentto the first device.

The second device may be included as part of the group, and the methodmay further comprise a step of selecting the second device out of thedevices in the group. The first server may select the second device outof the devices in the group, and in the first server may send the secondidentifier to the first device in response to the selection. Further,the first server may send the identifiers of all the devices in thegroup to the first device, followed by a step of the first deviceselecting the second device. Further, the method may include a step ofselecting one or more devices, distinct from the second device, out ofthe devices in the group.

The second device may be randomly selected out of the devices in thegroup using one or more random numbers generated by a random numbergenerator. The random number generator may be hardware based usingthermal noise, shot noise, nuclear decaying radiation, photoelectriceffect, or quantum phenomena. Alternatively or in addition, the randomnumber generator may be software based, based on executing an algorithmfor generating pseudo-random numbers. The second device may be selectedbased on attributes or characteristics of the device.

The second device may be selected based on the physical geographicallocation, and the method may comprise for each of the devices in thegroup the step of sending the device physical geographical location tothe first server, followed by the step of the first server storing thereceived group device physical geographical location. The physicalgeographical location may include at least one out of a continent, acountry, a state or province, a city, a street, a ZIP code, or alongitude and a latitude. The second device may be selected based on thephysical geographical proximity to the second server.

The second device may be selected based on the second identifier, thesecond identifier may be an IP address, and the second device may beselected based on its IP address. Alternatively or in addition, thesecond device may be selected based on comparing the second identifierto the third identifier. Alternatively or in addition, the second devicemay be selected based on past activities, such as based on the timing ofan event. The event may be a last or previous communication between thesecond device and the first device, the last communication between thesecond device and the first server, or the last communication betweenthe second device and the second server. These steps may be performedbefore, after, or concurrently (using multitasking or multiprocessing)with any of the former steps.

Each of the identifiers herein may be a URL or an IP address in IPv4 orIPv6 form. Any one of the servers herein may be a web server using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that responds to HTTP requests via theInternet, and any request herein may be an HTTP request. Anycommunication herein may be based on, or according to, TCP/IP protocolor connection, and may be preceded by the step of establishing aconnection, such as an ‘Active OPEN’ or a ‘Passive OPEN’. Alternativelyor in addition, any communication herein may be based on, or use a VPNor a tunneling protocol. Any content herein may include, consist of, orcomprise, part or whole of files, text, numbers, audio, voice,multimedia, video, images, music, or computer program, or may include,consists of, or comprise, a part of, or a whole of, a website page.

The method may be used for fetching over the Internet a second content,identified by a second content identification, by a third deviceidentified in the Internet by a fourth identifier, from a third serveridentified in the Internet by a fifth identifier, via the first device,and may further comprising the steps of the third device sending a thirdrequest to the first server; in response to receiving the third request,the first server sending the first identifier to the third device; thethird device sending a fourth request to the first device using thefirst identifier, the fourth request includes the second contentidentification and the fifth identifier; in response to receiving thefourth request, the first device sending the second contentidentification to the third server using the fifth identifier; inresponse to receiving the second content identification, the thirdserver sending the second content to the first device; and in responseto receiving the second content, the first device sending the secondcontent to the third device. The third server may be distinct from, orthe same device as, the second server. The third device may be distinctfrom, or the same device as, the second device. The second content maybe distinct from, or the same content as, the first content.

A client device may be a first device identified in the Internet by afirst identifier, executing a method for fetching over the Internet afirst content, identified by a first content, from a second serveridentified in the Internet by a third identifier, via a second deviceidentified in the Internet by a second identifier, using a first server.The method may include the steps of sending the first identifier to thefirst server; sending a first request to the first server; receiving thesecond identifier from the first server; sending a second request to thesecond device using the second identifier, the second request includesthe first content identification and the third identifier; and receivingthe first content from the second device. The method may furthercomprising of the step of sending the first content identification tothe second server using the third identifier. These steps may beperformed before, after, or concurrently (using multitasking ormultiprocessing) with any of the former steps.

The method may further be used with a third device identified in theInternet by a fourth identifier, and may further comprise the steps ofreceiving the fourth identifier from the first server; sending a thirdrequest to the third device using the fourth identifier, the thirdrequest includes the first content identification and the thirdidentifier; and receiving the first content from the third device. Thesesteps may be performed before, after, or concurrently (usingmultitasking or multiprocessing) with any of the former steps.

The method may further be used with a group consisting of a plurality ofdevices, each device in the group may be associated with a respectiveidentifier for being identified in the Internet, and may furthercomprise the steps of receiving the identifiers of the group devicesfrom the first server; sending a third request to the group devicesusing their associated identifiers, the third request includes the firstcontent identification and the third identifier; and receiving the firstcontent from the group devices. The second device may be included in thegroup, and the method may further comprise a step of selecting thesecond device out of the devices in the group, or the step of selectingone or more devices, distinct from the second device, out of the devicesin the group.

The method may further be used for fetching over the Internet a secondcontent, identified by a second content identification, by a thirddevice, identified in the Internet by a fourth identifier, from a thirdserver identified in the Internet by a fifth identifier, via the firstdevice. The method may further comprise steps of receiving a thirdrequest from the third device, the third request includes the secondcontent identification and the fifth identifier; in response toreceiving the third request, sending the second content identificationto the third server using the fifth identifier; receiving the secondcontent from the third server; and in response to receiving the secondcontent, sending the second content to the third device using the fourthidentifier. The third server may be distinct from the second server, orthe third server and the second server are the same server. The secondcontent may be distinct from the first content, or the second contentand the first content may be the same content.

A tunnel device may be identified in the Internet by a second identifierexecute a method for fetching over the Internet a first content,identified by a first content identification, by a first device,identified in the Internet by a first identifier, from a second serveridentified in the Internet by a third identifier using a first server.The method may comprise the steps of sending the second identifier tothe first server; receiving a second request from the first device, thesecond request includes the first content identification and the thirdidentifier; in response to receiving the second request, sending thefirst content identification to the second server using the thirdidentifier; receiving the first content from the second server; and inresponse to receiving the first content, sending the first content tothe first device using the first identification.

An acceleration server may execute a method for fetching over theInternet a first content, identified by a first content identification,by a first device identified in the Internet by a first identifier, froma second server identified in the Internet by a third identifier via asecond device identified in the Internet by a second identifier. Themethod may comprise steps of receiving the second identifier from thesecond device; in response to receiving the second identifier, storingthe second identifier; receiving a first request from the first device;and in response to receiving a first request, sending the secondidentifier to the first device. The method may further be used with athird device identified in the Internet by a fourth identifier, and maycomprise the steps of receiving the fourth identifier from the thirddevice; in response to receiving the fourth identifier, storing thefourth identifier; and in response to receiving the first request,sending the fourth identifier to the first device.

The method may further be used with a group consisting of a plurality ofdevices; each device in the group may be associated with a respectiveidentifier for being identified in the Internet, for each of the groupdevices in the group. The method may comprise steps of receiving theassociated identifier from the group device; in response to receivingthe associated identifier, storing the associated identifier; and inresponse to receiving the first request, sending the identifier of allgroup devices to the first device. The second device may be included aspart of the group, and the method may further comprise the step ofselecting the second device out of the devices in the group, and thesending the second identifier to the first device may be in response tothe selection.

A method is disclosed for fetching a content over the Internet by afirst device identified in the Internet by a first identifier, from afirst server identified in the Internet by a second identifier via agroup of multiple devices each identified in the Internet by anassociated group device identifier. The method may comprise a step ofpartitioning the content into a plurality of content slices, eachcontent slice containing at least part of the content, and identifiedusing a content slice identifier. For each of the content slices, themethod may comprise steps of selecting a device from the group; thefirst device sending a first request to the selected device using theselected device identifier, the first request including the contentslice identifier and a second identifier; in response to receiving thefirst request, the selected device sending a second request to the firstserver using the second identifier, the second request including thecontent slice identifier; in response to receiving the second request,the first server sending the content slice to the selected device; andin response to receiving the content slice, the selected device sendingthe content slice to the first device.

The content may be composed of bits, nibbles, bytes, characters, words,or strings, and the partitioning may be based on bit, nibble, byte,multi-byte, number, character, word, or string level, or may be composedof files, or programs, and the partitioning may be based on file orprogram level. Alternatively or in addition, the content may be awebsite content comprising multiple webpages, and the partitioning maybe based webpages level. All the parts of the content may be included inall of the content slices. All of the content slices may be having asame size. A part of the content may be included in two or more contentslices. The partitioning may be sequential or non-sequential in thecontent. The number of content slices may be equal to, higher than, orlower than, the number of devices in the group. A distinct device may beselected for each content slice

A method to be executed by a device is disclosed for fetching a contentover the Internet from a first server identified in the Internet by asecond identifier via a group of multiple devices each identified in theInternet by an associated group device identifier, the method comprisinga step of partitioning the content into a plurality of content slices,each content slice containing at least part of the content, andidentified using a content slice identifier. For each of the contentslices, the method may comprise steps of selecting a device from thegroup; sending a first request to the selected device using the selecteddevice identifier, the first request including the content sliceidentifier and the second identifier; receiving the content slice fromthe selected device; and constructing the content from the receivedcontent slices.

A method is disclosed for fetching over the Internet a first content,identified by a first content identifier, by a first device, identifiedin the Internet by a first identifier, from a second server identifiedin the Internet by a third identifier via a second device identified inthe Internet by a second identifier, using a first server. The methodmay comprise the steps of the second device sending the secondidentifier to the first server; in response to receiving the secondidentifier, the first server storing the second identifier; the firstdevice sending a first request to the first server; in response toreceiving the first request, the first server sending the secondidentifier to the first device; the first device sending a secondrequest to the second device using the second identifier, the secondrequest includes the first content identifier and the third identifier;in response to receiving the second request, the second device sendingthe first content identifier to the second server using the thirdidentifier; in response to receiving the first content identifier, thesecond server sending the first content to the second device; and inresponse to receiving the first content, the second device sending thefirst content to the first device. Alternatively or in addition, themethod may comprise the additional steps of the first device sending thefirst content identifier to the second server using the thirdidentifier; and in response to receiving the first content identifier,the second server sending the first content to the first device. Theseadditional steps may precede any of the other steps, follow any of theother steps, or may be executed simultaneously with any one of the othersteps using multitasking or multiprocessing.

Alternatively or in addition, the method may be for use with a thirddevice identified in the Internet by a fourth identifier, and mayfurther comprising the steps of the third device sending the fourthidentifier to the first server; in response to receiving the fourthidentifier, the first server storing the fourth identifier; in responseto receiving the first request, the first server sending the fourthidentifier to the first device; the first device sending a third requestto the third device using the fourth identifier, the third requestincludes the first content identifier and the third identifier; inresponse to receiving the third request, the third device sending thefirst content identifier to the second server using the thirdidentifier; in response to receiving the first content identifier, thesecond server sending the first content to the third device; and inresponse to receiving the first content, the third device sending thefirst content to the first device.

Alternatively or in addition, the method may be for use with a groupconsisting of a plurality of devices, each associated with a respectiveidentifier for being identified in the Internet, for each of the devicesin the group, and the method may further comprise the steps of the groupdevice sending the associated identifier to the first server; and inresponse to receiving the associated identifier, the first serverstoring the associated identifier. Alternatively or in addition, themethod may comprise the step of in response to receiving the firstrequest, the first server sending the identifiers of all the devices inthe group to the first device. Alternatively or in addition, for each ofthe group devices in the group, the method may further comprise thesteps of the first device sending a third request to the group deviceusing the device associated identifier, the third request includes thefirst content identifier and the third identifier; in response toreceiving the third request, the group device sending the first contentidentifier to the second server using the third identifier; in responseto receiving the first content identifier, the second server sending thefirst content to the group device; and in response to receiving thefirst content, the group device sending the first content to the firstdevice.

The second device may be included in the group, the method may furthercomprise the step of selecting the second device out of the devices inthe group by the first server, and the first server may be sending thesecond identifier to the first device in response to the selection.Alternatively or in addition, the method may comprise the step of thefirst server may be sending the identifiers of all devices and the groupto the first device, followed by a step of the first device selectingthe second device. Alternatively or in addition, the method may comprisethe step of selecting 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or more than 10devices, distinct from the second device, out of the devices in thegroup. The second device may be randomly selected out of the devices inthe group, such as being randomly selected using one or more randomnumbers generated by a random number generator. The random numbergenerator may be software based, such as based on executing an algorithmfor generating pseudo-random numbers. Alternatively or in addition, thesecond device may be selected based on attributes or characteristics ofthe device, or based on the device physical geographical location.Further, for each of the devices in the group, the method may comprisethe steps of sending the device physical geographical location to thefirst server, followed by the step of the first server storing thereceived group device physical geographical location. The physicalgeographical location may include a continent, a country, a state orprovince, a city, a street, a ZIP code, or longitude and latitude, andthe second device may be selected based on the physical geographicalproximity to the second server. The second device may be selected basedon the second identifier that may be an IP address, and the seconddevice may be selected based on its IP address, or the second device maybe selected based on comparing the second identifier to the thirdidentifier. Alternatively or in addition, the second device may beselected based on past activities, or based on the timing of an event,wherein the event may be the last communication between the seconddevice and the first device, may be the last communication between thesecond device and the first server, or may be the last communicationbetween the second device and the second server.

The method may be used for fetching over the Internet a second content,identified by a second content identifier, by a third device, identifiedin the Internet by a fourth identifier, from a third server identifiedin the Internet by a fifth identifier, via the first device, the methodfurther comprising the steps of the third device sending a third requestto the first server; in response to receiving the third request, thefirst server sending the first identifier to the third device; the thirddevice sending a fourth request to the first device using the firstidentifier, the fourth request includes the second content identifierand the fifth identifier; in response to receiving the fourth request,the first device sending the second content identifier to the thirdserver using the fifth identifier; in response to receiving the secondcontent identifier, the third server sending the second content to thefirst device; and in response to receiving the second content, the firstdevice sending the second content to the third device. The third servermay be distinct from, or the same as, the second server, the thirddevice may be distinct from, or the same as, the second device, and thesecond content may be distinct from, or the same as, the first content.The method may further comprise the steps of the first device receivingthe first content from the second device; and the first device storingthe first content in a memory.

Further, a method is disclosed for fetching over the Internet a firstcontent, identified by a first content identifier, by a first device,identified in the Internet by a first identifier, from a second serveridentified in the Internet by a third identifier via a second deviceidentified in the Internet by a second identifier, using a first server.The method may comprise the steps of sending the first identifier to thefirst server; sending a first request to the first server; receiving thesecond identifier from the first server; sending a second request to thesecond device using the second identifier, the second request includesthe first content identifier and the third identifier; and receiving thefirst content from the second device. The method may be further for usewith a third device identified in the Internet by a fourth identifier,and may further comprise the steps of receiving the fourth identifierfrom the first server; sending a third request to the third device usingthe fourth identifier, the third request includes the first contentidentifier and the third identifier; and receiving the first contentfrom the third device.

The method may further for use with a group consisting of a plurality ofdevices, each device in the group may be associated with a respectiveidentifier for being identified in the Internet, and may furthercomprise the steps of receiving the identifiers of the group devicesfrom the first server; sending a third request to the group device usingtheir associated identifiers, the third request includes the firstcontent identifier and the third identifier; and receiving the firstcontent from the group devices. The second device may be included in thegroup, and the method may further comprise the step of selecting thesecond device out of the devices in the group. Further, one or moredevices, distinct from the second device, may be selected out of thedevices in the group. The second device may be randomly selected out ofthe devices in the group, may be selected based on attributes orcharacteristics of the device. Alternatively or in addition, theselection may be based on a physical geographical location, such as onthe physical geographical proximity to the second server. Further, thesecond device may be selected based on the second identifier, based onpast activities, or based on the timing of an event.

Further, the method may be for fetching over the Internet a secondcontent, identified by a second content identifier, by a third device,identified in the Internet by a fourth identifier, from a third serveridentified in the Internet by a fifth identifier, via the first device,the method may further comprise the steps of receiving a third requestfrom the third device, where the third request includes the secondcontent identifier and the fifth identifier; in response to receivingthe third request, sending the second content identifier to the thirdserver using the fifth identifier; receiving the second content from thethird server; and in response to receiving the second content, sendingthe second content to the third device using the fourth identifier. Thethird server may be distinct from, or same as, the second server. Thesecond content may be distinct from, or same as, the first content.

A method is disclosed for fetching over the Internet a first content,identified by a first content identifier, by a first device, identifiedin the Internet by a first identifier, from a second server identifiedin the Internet by a third identifier via a second device identified inthe Internet by a second identifier, using a first server. The methodmay comprise the steps of sending the second identifier to the firstserver; receiving a second request from the first device, the secondrequest includes the first content identifier and the third identifier;in response to receiving the second request, sending the first contentidentifier to the second server using the third identifier; receivingthe first content from the second server; and in response to receivingthe first content, sending the first content to the first device usingthe first identifier.

A method is disclosed for fetching over the Internet a first content,identified by a first content identifier, by a first device, identifiedin the Internet by a first identifier, from a second server identifiedin the Internet by a third identifier via a second device identified inthe Internet by a second identifier, using a first server, the methodmay comprise the steps of receiving the second identifier from thesecond device; in response to receiving the second identifier, storingthe second identifier; receiving a first request from the first device;and in response to receiving a first request, sending the secondidentifier to the first device. The method may for use with a thirddevice identified in the Internet by a fourth identifier, and mayfurther comprise the steps of receiving the fourth identifier from thethird device; in response to receiving the fourth identifier, storingthe fourth identifier; and in response to receiving the first request,sending the fourth identifier to the first device. The method may beused with a group consisting of a plurality of devices; each device inthe group may be associated with a respective identifier for beingidentified in the Internet. For each of the group devices in the group,the method further comprising the steps of receiving the associatedidentifier from the group device; in response to receiving theassociated identifier, storing the associated identifier; and inresponse to receiving the first request, sending the identifier of allgroup devices to the first device.

A method is disclosed for fetching a content over the Internet by afirst device identified in the Internet by a first identifier, from afirst server identified in the Internet by a second identifier is agroup of multiple devices, each identified in the Internet by anassociated group device identifier, the method comprising the step ofpartitioning the content into a plurality of content slices, eachcontent slice containing at least part of the content, and identifiedusing a content slice identifier, and for each of the content slices.The method may comprise the steps of selecting a device from the group;the first device sending a first request to the selected device usingthe selected device identifier, the first request including the contentslice identifier and the second identifier; in response to receiving thefirst request, the selected device sending a second request to the firstserver using the second identifier, the second request including thecontent slice identifier; in response to receiving the second request,the first server sending the content slice to the selected device; andin response to receiving the content slice, the selected device sendingthe content slice to the first device.

A method is disclosed for fetching a content over the Internet from afirst server identified in the Internet by a second identifier via agroup of multiple devices, each identified in the Internet by anassociated group device identifier, the method may comprise the step ofpartitioning the content into a plurality of content slices, eachcontent slice containing at least part of the content, and identifiedusing a content slice identifier. For each of the content slices, themethod may comprise the steps of selecting a device from the group;sending a first request to the selected device using the selected deviceidentifier, the first request including the content slice identifier andthe second identifier; receiving the content slice from the selecteddevice; and constructing the content from the received content slices.

A content herein may be composed of bits, nibbles, bytes, characters,words, or strings, and the partitioning may be based on bit, nibble,byte, multi-byte, number, character, word, or string level.Alternatively or in addition, a content herein may be composed of filesor programs, and the partitioning may be based on file or program level.Further, the content may be a website content comprising multiplewebpages, and the partitioning may be based on webpages level. All partsof the content may be included in all of the content slices, and two ormore, or all of the content slices, may be having the same size. Two ormore of the content slices may include the same information. Further,the same part of the content may be included in two or more contentslices. The partitioning may be sequential or non-sequential in thecontent, and the number of the content slices may be equal to, higherthan, or lower than, the number of devices in the group. A distinctdevice may be selected for each content slice.

The first device may consist of, comprise, or be part of, any networkelement. In one example, the first device may consist of, comprise, orbe part of, a client device, such as the client device #1. The firstserver may consist of, comprise, or be part of, any network element. Inone example, the first server may consist of, comprise, or be part of,the acceleration server. The second server may consist of, comprise, orbe part of, any network element. In one example, the second server mayconsist of, comprise, or be part of, a data server, such as the dataserver #1. The third server may consist of, comprise, or be part of, anynetwork element. In one example, the third server may consist of,comprise, or be part of, a data server, such as the data server #2. Thesecond device may consist of, comprise, or be part of, any networkelement. In one example, the second device may consist of, comprise, orbe part of, a tunnel device, such as the tunnel device #1. The thirddevice may consist of, comprise, or be part of, any network element.Alternatively or in addition, the third device may consist of, comprise,or be part of, a client device, such as the client device #2.

A method is disclosed for a first device fetching over the Internet afirst content, identified by a first content identifier, stored in afirst server that may be identified in the Internet by a firstidentifier, where the first content may be composed of multiple contentparts, and each content part may be identified by a respective contentpart identifier. The method may be for use with a group of devices, eachstoring a copy of at least one content part and each group device may beidentified in the internet by a respective group device identifier, andmay be further for use with a second device identified in the Internetby a second identifier and storing the group device identifiers, andfurthermore for use with a second server. The method may comprise thesteps of the first device sending the first content identifier to thesecond server; in response to receiving the first content identifier,the second server sending the second identifier to the first device; thefirst device sending the first content identifier to the second deviceusing the second identifier; and in response to receiving the firstcontent identifier, the second device sending the group devicesidentifiers to the first device. Further, for each one out of the groupdevices identifiers, the method may comprise the steps of the firstdevice sending a content part identifier to the group device using thegroup device identifier; and in response to receiving the content partidentifier, the group device sending the content part identified by thecontent part identifier to the first device.

The first device may consist of, comprise, or be part of, any networkelement. In one example, the first device may consist of, comprise, orbe part of, a client device, such as the client device #1. The firstserver may consist of, comprise, or be part of, any network element. Inone example, the first server may consist of, comprise, or be part of,the acceleration server. The second server may consist of, comprise, orbe part of, any network element. In one example, the second server mayconsist of, comprise, or be part of, a data server, such as the dataserver #1. The third server may consist of, comprise, or be part of, anynetwork element. In one example, the third server may consist of,comprise, or be part of, a data server, such as the data server #2. Thesecond device may consist of, comprise, or be part of, any networkelement. In one example, the second device may consist of, comprise, orbe part of, a tunnel device, such as the agent device #1. Any deviceincluded in the group of devices may consist of, comprise, or be partof, any network element. Alternatively or in addition, a group devicemay consist of, comprise, or be part of, a peer device, such as the peerdevice #2.

The first server may be a web server, and the first content may be aweb-site, a web-page, or a URL, and the first content identifier may bean IP address, URL, or an HTTP header. The first identifier may be thefirst server IP address, the second identifier may be the second IPaddress, and each of the group devices identifier may be an IP addressor the respective group device. The first content may be composed ofbits, nibbles, bytes, characters, words, or strings, and the contentparts may be based on bit, nibble, byte, multi-byte, number, character,word, or string level partitioning of the first content, and the firstcontent may include, consist of, or comprise, part or whole of files,text, numbers, audio, voice, multimedia, video, images, music, orcomputer program. Alternatively or in addition, the first content mayinclude, be composed of, consist of, or comprise, a part of, or a wholeof, files or programs, and the content parts may be based on file levelor program level partitioning of the first content. Further, the firstcontent may be a website content comprising multiple webpages, and thecontent parts may be based on webpages level partitioning of the firstcontent. All the components of the first content may be included in allof the content parts. The method may further comprise the step of thefirst device reconstructing the first content from the received multiplecontent parts. Part of, or all of, the content parts may be having thesame size, that may be 8 KB, 16 KB, 32 KB, or 64 KB. Two or more contentparts may be identical and may contain the same data. A same portion ofthe first content may be included in two or more content parts. Thecontent parts may be a result of a sequential, or a non-sequential,partitioning of the first content. The number of content parts may beequal to the number of group devices in the group. Each of the contentpart identifiers may be a hash value that may be the result of a hashfunction of the respective data in the content part, such as a checksumor CRC of the respective data in the content part. The CRC may be CRC-8,CRC-16. CRC-32, or CRC-64.

The method may further comprise the steps of the first device sendingthe first content identifier to the first server using the firstidentifier; and in response to receiving the first content identifier,the first server may be sending the part of, or the whole of, the firstcontent to the first device. These steps may precede, follow, or beexecuted concurrently, with any one of the previously mentioned steps,using multitasking or multiprocessing

The method may be for use with a second group consisting of a pluralityof devices, each associated with a respective identifier for beingidentified in the Internet, the second group including the seconddevice, wherein in response to receiving the first content identifier,the second server sending the identifiers of all devices in the secondgroup to the first device, and may further comprise the step ofselecting the second device from the second group. The second device maybe randomly selected out of the devices in the group, using one or morerandom numbers generated by a random number generator. The random numbergenerator may be hardware based, and may be using thermal noise, shotnoise, nuclear decaying radiation, photoelectric effect, or quantumphenomena. Alternatively or in addition, the random number generator maybe software based, and may be based on executing an algorithm forgenerating pseudo-random numbers. Alternatively or in addition, thesecond device may be selected based on attributes or characteristics ofthe device. Further, the second device may be selected based on thephysical geographical location, and the method may further comprise foreach of the devices in the second group, the steps of sending the devicephysical geographical location to the first device, followed by the stepof the first device storing the received second group devices physicalgeographical location. The physical geographical location may include acontinent, a country, a state or province, a city, a street, or a ZIPcode, as well as longitude and latitude. Furthermore, the second devicemay be selected based on the physical geographical proximity to thefirst device.

Alternatively or in addition, the second device may be selected based onthe second identifier, which may be an IP address, where the seconddevice may be selected based on its IP address, or based on comparingthe second identifier to a first device identifier. Further, the seconddevice may be selected based on past activities, or based on the timingof an event, such as the last communication between the second deviceand the first device. Furthermore, the second device may be selectedbased on the ISP used to connect the second device to the Internet.

One or more of the group devices may be storing the first content.Alternatively or in addition, all of the group devices may be storingthe first content. Alternatively or in addition, at least one of, or allof, the group devices may be storing only one content part. Each of theidentifiers may be an IP address (such as in IPv4 or IPv6 form) or aURL. At least one of the servers may be a web server using HyperTextTransfer Protocol (HTTP) that responds to HTTP requests (such as thefirst and second requests) the via the Internet. Further, thecommunication with the second server may be based on, or using, HTTPpersistent connection. Furthermore, the communication with the firstdevice, the second device, one of the group devices, the first server,or the second server, may be based on, or may be according to, TCP/IPprotocol or connection.

The method may further comprise the step of establishing a connectionbetween the first device and the second device in response to receivingthe second identifier, and the first device may be communicating withthe second device over the established connection. Further, the firstdevice may be communicating with the second device using TCP, whereinthe connection may be established by performing ‘Active OPEN’ or‘Passive OPEN’. Alternatively or in addition, the first device may becommunicating with the second device using a VPN or a tunnelingprotocol, and the connection may be established using authentication.Further, the method may comprise the step of of establishing aconnection between the first device and at least one of the groupdevices in response to receiving the group devices identifiers. Thefirst device may be communicating with at least one of, or all of, thegroup devices over established connections. The first device may becommunicating with at least one of the group devices using TCP, and theconnection may be established by performing ‘Active OPEN’ or ‘PassiveOPEN’. Alternatively or in addition, the first device may becommunicating with at least one of the group devices using a VPN orusing a tunneling protocol. Any of the connections may be usingauthentication.

The method according may further used with a fourth device fetching overthe Internet a second content, identified by a second contentidentifier, stored in a second server that may be identified in theInternet by a fifth identifier, the second content may be composed ofmultiple second content parts, each second content part may beidentified by a respective second content part identifier, and may befor use with a second group of devices each storing a copy of at leastone second content part and each second group device may be identifiedin the internet by a respective second group device identifier, wherethe first device may be identified in the Internet by a thirdidentifier. The method may further comprise the steps of the fourthdevice sending the second content identifier to the second server; inresponse to receiving the second content identifier, the second serversending the third identifier to the fourth device; the fourth devicesending the second content identifier to the first device using thethird identifier; and in response to receiving the second contentidentifier, the first device sending the second group devicesidentifiers to the fourth device.

The method may further be used with a fourth device fetching over theInternet a second content, identified by a second content identifier,stored in a second server that may be identified in the Internet by afifth identifier, the second content may be composed of multiple secondcontent parts, each second content part may be identified by arespective second content part identifier, and may be further for usewith a second group of devices each storing a copy of at least onesecond content part and each second group device is identified in theinternet by a respective second group device identifier where the firstdevice may be identified in the Internet by a third identifier and maybe storing at least one of the second content parts, and may be for usewith a fifth device fetching identified in the Internet by a fifthidentifier and storing the third identifier. The method may furthercomprise the steps of the fourth device sending the second contentidentifier to the second server; in response to receiving the secondcontent identifier, the second server sending the fifth identifier tothe fourth device; the fourth device sending the second contentidentifier to the fifth device using the fifth identifier; in responseto receiving the second content identifier, the fourth device sendingthe third identifier to the fourth device; the fourth device sending theidentifier of the at least one second content part stored in the firstdevice to the first device using the third identifier; and in responseto receiving the identifier of the at least one second content part, thefirst device sending the at least one second content part to the fourthdevice.

The fourth device may consist of, comprise, or be part of, any networkelement. In one example, the first device may consist of, comprise, orbe part of, a client device, such as the client device #1. In oneexample, the second server may consist of, comprise, or be part of, adata server, such as the data server #2. The fourth device and thesecond device may be the same device or distinct devices, and the fourthdevice may be the same as one of the group devices. The fifth device mayconsist of, comprise, or be part of, any network element. In oneexample, the fifth device may consist of, comprise, or be part of, anagent device, such as the agent device #2.

The fourth device and the second device may be the same device ordistinct devices. The fourth device may be the same as one of the groupdevices. Further, the fifth device and the second device may be the samedevice. Alternatively or in addition, the fifth device and the one ofthe group devices may be the same device.

A method is disclosed for fetching over the Internet a first content,identified by a first content identifier, stored in a first server thatmay be identified in the Internet by a first identifier, the firstcontent may be composed of multiple content parts, each content part maybe identified by a respective content part identifier. The method may beused with a group of devices each storing a copy of at least one contentpart and each group device may be identified in the internet by arespective group device identifier, may be for use with a second deviceidentified in the Internet by a second identifier and storing the groupdevice identifiers, and may be used with a second server. The method maycomprise the steps of sending the first content identifier to the secondserver; receiving the second identifier from the second server; sendingthe first content identifier to the second device using the secondidentifier; and receiving the group devices identifiers from the seconddevice. For each one out of the group devices identifiers, the methodmay further comprise the steps of sending a content part identifier tothe group device using the group device identifier; and receiving fromthe group device the content part identified by the content partidentifier. The method may further comprise the steps of sending thefirst content identifier to the first server using the first identifier;and receiving the part of, or the whole of, the first content, from thefirst server.

A method is disclosed for a first device fetching over the Internet afirst content, identified by a first content identifier, stored in afirst server that may be identified in the Internet by a firstidentifier, the first content may be composed of multiple content parts,each content part may be identified by a respective content partidentifier, for use with a group of devices each storing a copy of atleast one content part and each group device may be identified in theinternet by a respective group device identifier. The method may be usedwith a second device identified in the Internet by a second identifierand storing the group device identifiers, and may further be for usewith a second server. The method may comprise the steps of receiving thefirst content identifier from the first device; and sending the groupdevices identifiers to the first device.

A method for a first device fetching over the Internet a first content,identified by a first content identifier, stored in a first server thatmay be identified in the Internet by a first identifier, the firstcontent may be composed of multiple content parts, where each contentpart may be identified by a respective content part identifier, isdisclosed. The method may comprise the steps of storing a content partidentified by a content part identifier; receiving from the first devicesending the content part identifier; and in response to receiving thecontent part identifier sending the content part identified by thecontent part identifier to the first device.

A method and system using an internet-connected device designated as atunnel device is disclosed. A tunnel device may receive from a clientdevice a request for content from a data server. Upon receiving such arequest, the tunnel device fetches the requested content from the dataserver and sends the retrieved content to the client device. The requestmay specify a range of, or any portion of, the content, and then onlythe specified portion or range is retrieved from the data server andsent to the requesting client device. A tunnel device may open multipleconnections when fetching the requested content from the data server. Ina case where more connections may be opened for higher loadingbandwidth, the client device may send a request to the tunnel device toopen more connection with the data server.

The client device may use multiple tunnel devices, and may specifydifferent or the same ranges or portions for each one of the tunneldevices. In a case where the requested content is locally stored in thetunnel device, such as in a local memory, such as a cache, the contentis fetched from the local (internal) memory. Multiple tunnel devices,such as 5 tunnel devices, may be selected to be used by the clientdevice, and the client device may request each of the tunnel devices toopen more connections to the data server, up to the maximum allowablenumber of connections. The selection may be based on their proximity tothe data server, such as selecting those tunnel devices that are theclosest to the data server, based on their geolocation, IP distance,physical location, or the data communication characteristics.

A first network element may request content stored in a second networkelement over a communication link being part of a network. A time periodfor fetching the content may be estimated by the first network elementby estimating the Bandwidth (BW) and the Round Trip Time (RTT)associated with the content fetching transaction. The estimation of theBW and RTT may use a database that contains information relating toprevious interactions with the second network elements. Alternatively orin addition, the estimation of the BW and RTT may use a database thatcontains information relating to previous interactions with a firstgroup of network elements that are associated with an IP distance lowerthan, and with a second group of network elements that is associatedwith an IP distance higher than, the second network element, such as bycalculating the average IP distance between the two groups.

A system may comprise a central server and network elements, each of thenetwork elements may be in an ‘online’ or an ‘offline’ state. When inthe online’ state, each of the network elements periodically transmits amessage (such as a ‘ping’) to the central server. In response toreceiving the message, the central server determines that the networkelement from which a message was received in a defined past period is inan ‘online’ state, and further determines that network elements, fromwhich a message was not received in the defined past period, are in an‘offline’ state.

An operating system may send data from an application to networkelements using sockets. A method may queue the data to be sent, andtransfer the data to a socket that is available for immediate datatransfer. The queue may be dynamic and may be part of an added layer tothe OS. The added layer may further continuously check the sockets andqueues, and upon detecting a queued data and a ready-to-send datasocket, the data is un-queued from its dynamic queue and sent throughthe socket ready for sending. In a case where the application cancelsthe data sending, data is removed from the respective socket and therespective queue.

In a network element that is connected to a network and includes anoperating system and applications, a method by which a program on thenetwork element may provide the communication configuration to theoperating system, instead of the operating system getting it from agateway on the network. The program may communicate with the externalgateway to get the configuration information so that it can communicatewith other network elements, and provides separate configurationinformation to the operating system, thereby having the operating systemcommunicate with the program, and the program communicating with theexternal network elements.

In a scenario where a communication of content between two networkelements may use two or more data paths (routes), the content may beconcurrently transmitted and received over multiple data paths. In onescenario, one or both of the network elements may connect only via asingle data path. A reliability proxy server that is capable ofconcurrently communicating with one (or both) of the network elementsover multiple data paths, may be used. The reliability proxy serverserves as a proxy server, and communicate the content with one (or both)of the network elements over multiple data paths,

A timeout period (such as 5 ms, or any period substantially shorter thanthe defined typical) may be defined for completing a DHCP request. ADHCP request is repeatedly retransmitted to a DHCP server upon eachtimeout expiration, until a response is received, or until the typicaltimeout period expires.

A data may be transferred from a first network element to a secondnetwork element may involve transporting of a low priority, such as lesstime critical, meta data. Such meta data may be delayed by the firstnetwork element and be sent to the second network element only afterhigher priority, or more time sensitive, data was sent.

For use with devices such as WiFi access points that requiresauthentication such as being password protected, a user may try toconnect a network element to a device that its password is unknown. Theconnection may automatically guess passwords for the connection, such aspasswords that were used to connect to other devices, passwords that arecommon in the geographical location, or passwords that are common tosimilar devices from this same manufacturer. A central server (orservers) may store a list of known devices, such as WiFi access points,and their associated authentication methods, and may further storesocial connections between users. A user connecting to the devices maybe prompted to update the central server the authentication informationregarding the device and the device associated sharing level withothers. A sharing-approved user may fetch the authentication informationfrom the central server for connecting to a device.

A network element may use a hierarchical structure, whereby some of thegraphical elements are sons or parents of other elements, for a userinterface. If a user drags an object beyond the borders of a parentobject, the dragging may be performed by carrying over (inheriting) thedragging to the parent object, and so recursively until reaching aparent that allows the dragging.

A method is disclosed for dictionary-based compression scheme, that maybe used with a first device storing a first content in a first memory,and a second device storing a second content in a second memory, and foruse with communicating a third content stored in the first device over anetwork. The method comprising the steps of the first devicepartitioning at least part of the first content into a plurality offirst content slices according to a partitioning scheme; the firstdevice associating a distinct slice identifier to each of the firstcontent slices according to a rule; the second device partitioning atleast part of the second content into a plurality of second contentslices according to a partitioning scheme; the second device associatinga distinct slice identifier to each of the second content slicesaccording to the rule; the first device partitioning at least part ofthe third content into a plurality of third content slices according toa partitioning scheme. For each one of the third content slices, themethod may further comprise the steps of the first device comparing thedata in the third content slice to the data in the plurality of thefirst content slices; the first device sending to the second device overthe network the slice identifier of the first content slice thatincludes the same data as the third content slice; the second devicereceiving the slice identifiers sent from the first device over thenetwork; and the second device associating second content slicesassociated with the received slice identifiers. Two of, or all of, theslices may have the same the same size. Two of, or all of, the slicesmay be the same. The partitioning may be sequential in the respectivecontent.

A method for attribute-based selecting devices by a first device locatedin a first geographical location, from a group of multipleInternet-connected devices is disclosed, where each of the group devicesmay be addressable in the Internet by a respective IP address. Themethod comprising the steps of obtaining a list of the IP addresses ofthe devices of the group; determining the geographical location of eachof the group devices based on the IP address; associating a value of theattribute for each of the geographical location of each of the groupdevices; associating a first value of the attribute for the firstgeographical location; and selecting one or more devices from the groupbased on comparing the values of the group devices to the first value. Asingle device or multiple devices may be selected, associated with thefirst value or having a value close to the first value. The geographicallocation may consist of, or comprise, a continent, a country, a region,a city, a street, a ZIP code, or a timezone. The determining of thegeographical location of each of the group devices may be based on ageolocation, such as based on W3C Geolocation API.

The method may be used with a database associating IP addresses togeographical locations, wherein the determining of the geographicallocation of each of the group devices based on the IP address may beusing the database. The database may be stored in the first device ormay be stored in a server accessible via the Internet, where thegeographical location may be determined by the first device sending theIP addresses of the group devices to the server over the Internet; inresponse to receiving the IP addresses, the server sending the databaseassociated physical locations to the first device; and the first devicereceiving the physical locations from the server. The attribute mayrelate to people or society, such as language, sport, demographics, orreligion, or may be demographic based, such as culture, race, ethnicity,population, age structure, population growth rate, death rate, birthrate, migration rate, sex ratio, life expectancy, or healthexpenditures. The attribute may be economy related, such as GrossDomestic Product (GDP), GDP per capita (PPP), gross national saving,agriculture products, industry types, labor force, unemployment rate,household income or consumption by percentage share, Government budget,taxes and other revenues, inflation rate (consumer prices),export/import of goods and services, household consumption, governmentconsumption, or investment in fixed capital. The attribute may relate togeography, such as climate, coastline, terrain, natural resources, andenvironment.

A method is disclosed for a first device fetching over the Internet afirst content having a size X and identified by a first contentidentification, the first content may be stored in a second device thatis identified in the Internet by a second identifier. The first devicemay be identified in the Internet by a first identifier, and the methodmay comprise the steps of the first device sending the first identifierand the first content identification to the second device; in responseto receiving the first identifier and the first content identification,the second device sending the first content to the first device usingthe first identifier; the first device starting to receive the firstcontent from the second device; the first device ending to receive thefirst content from the second device; the first device measuring anRound Trip Time (RTT) as a first time interval between the sending ofthe first identifier and the starting to receive the first content fromthe second device; the first device measuring a second time interval (T)between the starting and the ending of receiving the first content fromthe second device; and the first device calculating the bandwidth (BW)as X/T.

The method may further comprise the step of the first device storing ina memory the RTT and the BW, or the step of the first device sending theRTT and the BW to the second device. The method may be used with asecond content having a size Y identified by a second contentidentification stored in the second device, and the method may furthercomprise the step of estimating a third time interval between a sendingof the first identifier to the second device and an ending to receivethe second content from the second device, where the third time intervalmay be estimated to be RTT+Y/BW.

A method is disclosed for a first device fetching over the Internet afirst content having a size X identified by a first contentidentification, for use with a group of group devices, each of the groupdevices storing the first content and each identified in the Internet bya respective group device identifier. Each of the group devices may beassociated with a respective Round Trip Time (RTT) and a respectivebandwidth (BW), and the method may comprise the steps of for each one ofthe group devices, estimating the time interval for fetching the firstcontent from the group device using the RTT and BW; selecting the groupdevice having the lowest estimated time interval; the first devicesending the first identifier and the first content identification to theselected group device; and in response to receiving the first identifierand the first content identification, the selected group device sendingthe first content to the first device using the first identifier. Themethod may further comprise the steps of the first device starting toreceive the first content from the selected group device; the firstdevice ending to receive the first content from the selected groupdevice; the first device measuring an Round Trip Time (RTT) as a firsttime interval between the sending of the first identifier and thestarting to receive the first content from the selected group device;the first device measuring a second time interval (T) between thestarting and the ending of receiving the first content from the selectedgroup device; and the first device calculating the bandwidth (BW) asX/T. Further, the method may further comprise the step of associatingthe measured RTT and the calculated BW with the selected group device,and the step of the first device storing in a memory the measured RTTand the calculated BW. Alternatively or in addition, the method mayfurther comprising the step of the first device sending the measured RTTand the calculated BW to the selected group device, wherein the timeinterval for each group device is estimated using the RTT and the BWassociated with the group device, and is calculated as RTT+X/BW.

A method is disclosed for fetching to a first device a content having asize X from N multiple locations each storing a copy of a part of, orthe entire of, the content. The method may comprise for each locationdesignated as i (1≤i≤N) the steps of obtaining the Round Trip Time(RTTi), wherein the RTTi is the time interval between a sending of arequest to the i location and a starting to receive part of the firstcontent from the i location; obtaining the Bandwidth (BWi), wherein theBWi is the rate of receiving data after the starting to receive from thei location; and designating Ti as Ti=RTTi+Xi/BWi, wherein Xi is the sizeof part of the content fetched from the i location. The method mayfurther comprise the steps of non-overlapping partitioning of thecontent into N partitions, wherein the size of each partition isdesignated as Xi, so that for i=1 to N, ΣXi=X; the first device fetchingthe partitions from the N locations; and the first device assembling thecontent from the received partitions. The content may be stored in adevice in each location, and the first device and the location devicesmay be interconnected via a digital network, such as the Internet.

The partitioning may be based on the RTTi values, may be based on BWi,or may be based on both BWi and RTTi of all of the locations. Thepartitioning may be based on calculating the maximum or minimum value ofTi for all locations. Alternatively or in addition, the partitioning maybe based on minimizing the maximum value of Ti for all locations, andmay be calculated at the first device according to:Xi=BWi*[(X+ΣRTTi*BWi)/(ΣBWi)−RTTi]. The RTTi and the BWi values may bestored in the first device, and may be based on previous communicationwith the locations. A non-transitory computer readable medium containingcomputer instructions that, when executed by a computer processor, causethe processor to perform at least part of, or all of, the above steps.

The first device may consist of, comprise, or be part of, any networkelement. In one example, the first device may consist of, comprise, orbe part of, a client device, such as the client device #1. The seconddevice, or each of the group devices, may consist of, comprise, or bepart of, any network element. In one example, the second device, or eachof the group devices, may consist of, comprise, or be part of, a tunneldevice, such as the tunnel device #1 or the tunnel device #2.

A method for improving the fetching of a content from a first serverover the Internet, for use with a second server distinct from the firstserver identified in the Internet by an identifier, is described. Themethod may comprise the steps of the application sending a first messageto the second server; intercepting the first message to the secondserver; obtaining a second message based on the first message and on theidentifier; returning the second message to the application; and inresponse to receiving the second message, the application sending arequest for the content to the first server. The interception may be byhooking to the application, may be in a filter driver form, or may usean Inter-Process Communication (IPC). The IPC may use, or be based on, afile sharing, a signal, a socket, a pipe, a message queue, a sharedmemory, a semaphore, memory mapped file, a clipboard, a Component ObjectModel (COM), a data copy, a DDE protocol, or mailslots.

The application may be a web browser that consists of, comprises, or maybe based on, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera™, orMozilla Firefox®. The web browser may be a mobile web browser, whichconsists of, comprises of, or may be based on, Safari, Opera Mini™, orAndroid web browser. The identifiers may be an IP address (in IPv4 orIPv6 form), or a URL.

The first message may be a web analytic related message, and the secondserver may be a web analytic server, such as Google Analytics server.The second message may be the same as, or based on, a response to thefirst message from the web analytic server. The method may use adatabase storing a list of typical responses from a web analytic server,and the second message may be obtained from the database. The method maycomprise the step of blocking the sending of the first message to thesecond server, and the step of receiving a response from the secondserver. The method may use a database storing a list of typicalresponses from a web analytic server, and may further comprise the stepof storing the response from the second server in the database.

A system is disclosed comprising multiple Internet-connected networkelements, designated as peer devices, where each of the peer devices maystore only a portion of a file (or other content) (‘chunks’) in itscache memory. Network elements, designated as client devices, may usethe peer devices for fetching the portions of the file therefrom, andreconstructing the entire file. The system may consist, may include, maybe based on, or may be part of, the system described in the '604 patent.A same portion or the file may be stored in two or more peer devices,each may be associated with a BW and RTT (where BW is the bandwidth of apeer device to the client device connection and RTT is the round triptime from a peer device to the client and back), and the peer deviceassociated with the highest BW/RTT may be selected to provide theportion of the file. Alternatively or in addition, the number ofportions allocated to be fetched from a peer device is based on, orpro-rata to, the respective peer device BW/RTT.

The system may further comprise multiple Internet-connected networkelements, designated as agent devices, which store in their memoryinformation regarding which peer devices are storing which portions ofthe file, and further store which client devices requested which files,so that client devices may serve as peer devices for providing theportions of file that they have fetched. After a client device completesthe fetching of a file, it may update network elements, such as theagent devices used, regarding the files availability in each of the usedpeer devices.

An agent device may provide a client device a list of peer devices thatmay be used for sourcing a part of, or an entire of, the file, and theclient device may select five (5) or any other number of peer devicesfrom the list, to fetch data therefrom. The agent device may store afirst list of peer devices that may be available for use and storing apart of, or an entire of, the file, and may select from the first list asecond list of peer devices to be sent to the client device. The secondlist may be selected based on the BW/RTT ratio associated with thecommunication of the respective peer device with the client device, suchas selecting the peer devices having the highest ration of BW/RTT.Alternatively or in addition, the second list may be selected based onrecent transaction between these peer devices and other client devices,such as selecting only peer devices that completed a successful datatransfer. Alternatively or in addition, the second list may be selectedbased on the geographical distance to the client device.

The number of chunks allocated to the peer devices, to be fetched by aclient device from the peer devices, may be set to a same number for allthe peer devices. Alternatively or in addition, the number of chunksallocated to the peer devices may be determined by the latency intransporting the chunks to the client device, such as based onestimating the BW/RTT between the peer devices to the client device.

A client device may send out the request for a list of agent devicesalso to other network elements that the client device has communicatedwith in the past, so that if these elements have knowledge of any agentdevices that may provide the information about the applicable peerdevices, such an agent devices list will be sent to the client device.If these network elements themselves have knowledge of peer devices(including themselves) that might provide portions of the data requiredby the client device, they might provide themselves as an agent devicesto the client device. Further, the client device may fetch informationfrom a peer device regarding available agent devices, such as agentdevices that were previously used with the data server. Alternatively orin addition, the client device may request a list of agent devices froman acceleration server.

A client device may request a list of peer devices from an agent device.If the requested data or file, in part or in whole, is stored in theagent device, the agent device may provide that data or file directly tothe client device, instead of providing the meta data about the file tothe client device. Alternatively or in addition, the agent device mayprovide that data or file directly to the client device only when thefile is below a certain size, such as 16 KB. In a case where a clientdevice fetches the required file from any other source, and that file isbelow that certain size, the client device may update and send the fileto be stored in the agent devices, so that the data may be laterprovided to a client device.

A client device may receive and use a list of agent devices for aspecific transaction, and when the network is idle, the client devicemay update the acceleration server regarding the used agent devices,allowing the acceleration server to later recommend or use these agentdevices. The updating of the acceleration server may include the IPaddress of each of the agent devices, the communication sessioninformation such as RTT, BW and speed, the ports used in thecommunication sessions, the latency and speed for each of the connectionphases, and whether the required file or data was stored in each of theagent devices. The acceleration server may use this information todecide which agent devices to recommend and include in a future agentdevices list requested by client devices. A client device may receiveand use a list of peer devices for a specific transaction (such as froman agent device), and when the network is idle, the client device mayupdate the acceleration server, agent devices, or both, regarding theused peer devices, allowing the acceleration server or the agent devicesto later recommend or use these peer devices. The updating of theacceleration server or the agent devices may include the IP address ofeach of the peer devices, the communication session information such asRTT, BW and speed, the ports used in the communication sessions, thelatency and speed for each of the connection phases, and whether therequired file or data was stored in each of the peer devices. Theacceleration server or the agent devices may use this information todecide which peer devices to recommend and include in future peerdevices list requested, such as by client devices. In a case where anagent device does not store a required information, such as a peerdevices list, the client device or the acceleration server may updatethe agent device with that information after it was obtained. Further,the client device or the acceleration server may update all of the agentdevices that were used in a transaction. Such an update may be performedonly when the communication is idling.

The acceleration server may periodically review the load of each of thenetwork elements (such as agent devices), and if two network elementsare used below a certain threshold of load, it merges the rangeresponsibilities of these network elements. The responsibilities may bethe peer devices that the agent device is responsible for serving, ormay be the data servers that the agent device is responsible forserving. A network element may log network elements that are accessingit, or may only log a portion of the requests according to a certainalgorithm, by which the list of accessing network elements may berepresentative of all of the requests. The algorithm may be based onlogging only the past several requests (such as a last 1000 requests orthe requests in the past 5 minutes), or may be based on logging alogarithmically reducing list of random requests.

Upon fetching requested chunks from various sources (such as peerdevices) by a client device, some chunks may be larger than a pre-setminimum size. The client device may estimate that one of the sourceswill complete providing its last chunk much later than all other chunksfrom the other sources. In such a case, this chunk may be split intosmaller sized chunks, such as into half of the original size, andre-distributed between the various sources. The splitting may be onlyperformed if the last chunk is expected to delay the entire file loadingby 10% or 50%. A back end module may be used that is based on applyingcriteria to a request received by a client device. Only requests thatmeet the criteria may be handled using a handling method associated withthe criteria. The criteria may be based on the URL requested, the domainrequested, the IP address of the request defined data server, the typeof the requested file, the request timing, or the client devicegeographical location.

Two or more data path may be available for fetching a content. Theselection of which data path to use may be based on estimating the timefor completing the content fetching for each data path, and may be basedon historical data regarding the performance and timing of each stage ofpart connections of each of the data paths. The times used for eachstage may be the top percentile under which most samples fall (e.g.,using a sample that is larger than 95% of the other samples). Awatermark system may be used to determine a threshold used to prefer andselect one scheme over the other. If both data paths estimatedperformance are below a threshold, both data paths may be simultaneouslyused.

In a case where either a peers-using scheme (system or method) or atunnels-using scheme may be used, the scheme to be used may be selectedbased on an evaluating the time to completely receive the informationusing the scheme. The evaluation may be based on data from previousinteractions with peer devices and tunnel devices associated with, or inthe vicinity of, the available peer devices and tunnel devices. Once thedesired scheme is chosen, a timer is set for the expected time tocomplete the transaction, and if that time plus a margin has passed,both schemes may be selected to operate concurrently. In such a case ofsimultaneous activation of both schemes, upon receiving the first pieceof data by one of the schemes, and if the other scheme is still active,that other scheme is terminated. Alternatively or in addition, uponreceiving the last piece by one of the schemes, if the other scheme isstill active, it is terminated. Further, upon fetching all requesteddata, information about all of the participating network elements,including response times for one or more of their functions, is storedfor future use, and may further be sent to other network elements in thenetwork for future use.

A method for managing congestion within a group of network elements isdisclosed; where a central load-balancing server may identify that anelement is congested. If over a certain amount of the network elementswithin the group are congested, a new network element is added to thegroup, and if over a certain amount of the network elements has notsignaled being congested (such as by sending a message from thecongested network elements), the server removes one or more of thenetwork elements from the group. Alternatively or in addition, thesignaling to the central load-balancing server may be performed bycommunication devices that are trying to connect or to use these networkelements. The signaling to the central load-balancing server may beperformed by the network elements whenever their own resources (such asstorage capacity, I/O activity, CPU utilization, or availablecommunication bandwidth) are used over a certain threshold. The centralload-balancing server may send a request to the network elements and maymark them as congested, if they do not respond within a determinedtimeframe to a status request.

Each of the identifiers herein may be an IP address (in IPv4 or IPv6form) or a URL. Each of the servers may be a web server using HyperTextTransfer Protocol (HTTP) that responds to HTTP requests via theInternet, and the first and second requests may be HTTP requests. Eachcommunication with a server may be based on, or using, HTTP persistentconnection.

Any communication with a network element, such as with the first device,the second device, the first server, or the second server, may be basedon, or be according to, TCP/IP protocol or connection, and may bepreceded by the step of establishing a connection. Further,communication between any two network elements, such as between thefirst device and the second device, may be over the establishedconnection. Any communication between any two network elements may useTCP, and wherein the connection may be established by performing ‘ActiveOPEN’ or ‘Passive OPEN’, may use a VPN, or may use a tunneling protocol.Any content herein, such as the first content, may include, consist of,or comprise, a part or whole of files, text, numbers, audio, voice,multimedia, video, images, music, web-site page, or computer program.

Each of the network elements herein, such as the first, second, andthird servers, may store, operate, or use, a server operating system,that may be based on, comprise, or use, Microsoft Windows Server®,Linux, or UNIX, such as Microsoft Windows Server® 2003 R2, 2008, 2008R2, 2012, or 2012 R2 variant, Linux™ or GNU/Linux based DebianGNU/Linux, Debian GNU/kFreeBSD, Debian GNU/Hurd, Fedora™, Gentoo™,Linspire™, Mandriva, Red Hat® Linux, SuSE, and Ubuntu®, UNIX® variantSolaris™, AIX®, Mac™ OS X, FreeBSD®, OpenBSD, and NetBSD®. Each of thenetwork elements herein, such as the first, second, and third devices,may store, operate, or use, a client operating system, that may consistor, comprise of, or may be based on, Microsoft Windows 7, MicrosoftWindows XP, Microsoft Windows 8, Microsoft Windows 8.1, Linux, or GoogleChrome OS. The client operating system may be a mobile operating system,such as Android version 2.2 (Froyo), Android version 2.3 (Gingerbread),Android version 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), Android Version 4.2 (JellyBean), Android version 4.4 (KitKat)), Apple iOS version 3, Apple iOSversion 4, Apple iOS version 5, Apple iOS version 6, Apple iOS version7, Microsoft Windows® Phone version 7, Microsoft Windows® Phone version8, Microsoft Windows® Phone version 9, or Blackberry® operating system.

Any method herein may further comprise the step of intercepting arequest for a content by a network element, such as the intercepting ofthe request for the first content by the first device. The request maybe initiated in an application (that may be a communications applicationsuch as a TCP/IP or HTTP handling application) in a network element suchas the first device. The interception may be in the form of a plug-in oran extension of the application, may be by hooking to the application,may be in a filter driver form, or may be using Inter-ProcessCommunication (IPC). The IPC may be using a file sharing, a signal, asocket, a pipe, a message queue, a shared memory, a semaphore, memorymapped file, a clipboard, a Component Object Model (COM), a data copy, aDDE protocol, or mailslots. The application may be a web browser thatmay be consisting of, comprising of, or may be based on, MicrosoftInternet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera™, or Mozilla Firefox®.Alternatively or in addition, the web browser may be a mobile webbrowser, that consist of, comprise of, or may be based on, Safari, OperaMini™, or Android web browser.

Any system or method herein may implement redundancy, where the systemor method may include one or more additional identical, similar, ordifferent element, such as using two or more identical or similar slicesor any other content parts, using two or more identical or similarnetwork elements performing identical or similar functionalities, usingtwo or more identical or similar hardware pieces performing identical orsimilar functionalities, or using two or more data-paths transportingidentical or similar information. The redundancy may be based on DualModular Redundancy (DMR), Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR), QuadrupleModular Redundancy (QMR), 1:N Redundancy, ‘Cold Standby’, or ‘HotStandby’.

The steps described herein may be sequential, and performed in thedescribed order. For example, in a case where a step is performed inresponse to another step, or upon completion of another step, the stepsare executed one after the other. However, in case where two or moresteps are not explicitly described as being sequentially executed, thesesteps may be executed in any order, or may be simultaneously performed.Two or more steps may be executed by two different network elements, orin the same network element, and may be executed in parallel usingmultiprocessing or multitasking.

A tangible machine-readable medium (such as a storage) may have a set ofinstructions detailing part (or all) of the methods and steps describedherein stored thereon, so that when executed by one or more processors,may cause the one or more processors to perform part of, or all of, themethods and steps described herein. Any of the network elements may be acomputing device that comprises a processor and a computer-readablememory (or any other tangible machine-readable medium), and thecomputer-readable memory may comprise computer-readable instructionssuch that, when read by the processor, the instructions causes theprocessor to perform the one or more of the methods or steps describedherein.

Any communication or connection herein, such as the connection ofperipherals in general, and memories in particular to a processor, andbetween any two network elements, may use a bus. A communication link(such as Ethernet, or any other LAN, PAN or WAN communication links mayalso be regarded as buses herein. A bus may be an internal bus, anexternal bus or both. A bus may be a parallel or a bit-serial bus. A busmay be based on a single or on multiple serial links or lanes. A busmedium may be electrical conductors based such as wires or cables, ormay be based on a fiber-optic cable. A bus topology may usepoint-to-point, multi-drop (electrical parallel) and daisy-chain, andmay be based on hubs or switches. A point-to-point bus may befull-duplex, or half-duplex. Further, a bus may use proprietaryspecifications, or may be based on, similar to, substantially or fullycompliant to an industry standard (or any variant thereof), and may behot-pluggable. A bus may be defined to carry only digital data signals,or may also defined to carry a power signal (commonly DC voltages),either in separated and dedicated cables and connectors, or may carrythe power and digital data together over the same cable. A bus maysupport master/slave configuration. A bus may carry a separated anddedicated timing signal or may use self-clocking line-code.

The networks or the data paths may be similar, identical or differentgeographical scale or coverage types and data rates, such as NFCs, PANs,LANs, MANs, or WANs, or any combination thereof. The networks or thedata paths may be similar, identical or different types of modulation,such as Amplitude Modulation (AM), a Frequency Modulation (FM), or aPhase Modulation (PM), or any combination thereof. The networks or thedata paths may be similar, identical or different types of duplexingsuch half- or full-duplex, or any combination thereof. The networks orthe data paths may be based on similar, identical or different types ofswitching such as circuit-switched or packet-switched, or anycombination thereof. The networks or the data paths may have similar,identical or different ownership or operation, such as private or publicnetworks, or any combination thereof.

Any selection of devices herein, such as the selection of tunnel devicesto be used either by a client device or by an acceleration sever, or theselection of agent devices either by a client device or by anacceleration sever, or the selection of peer devices, either by a clientdevice or by an agent device, may be based on one or more of thefollowing: Content URL, such as specific files on the Internet (e.g.,“Wikipedia.org/contact.html”), domain name such as specific web sites(e.g., “Wikipedia.org”), data server IP such as specific servers (e.g.,server having IP address of “208.80.152.201”), type of file such asspecific file types (e.g., “.fly files”), time of day such as specifichandling of all files or a group of files during certain hours of theday (e.g., “all files between 11 pm to 4 am”), or geography of theclient such as specific handling according to a location of the clientdevice (e.g., “for all Clients in Germany”).

The above summary is not an exhaustive list of all aspects of thepresent invention. Indeed, it is contemplated that the inventionincludes all systems and methods that can be practiced from all suitablecombinations and derivatives of the various aspects summarized above, aswell as those disclosed in the detailed description below andparticularly pointed out in the claims filed with the application. Suchcombinations have particular advantages not specifically recited in theabove summary.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is herein described, by way of non-limiting examples only,with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like designationsdenote like elements. Understanding that these drawings only provideinformation concerning typical embodiments of the invention and are nottherefore to be considered limiting in scope:

FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a block diagram of a computer connectedto the Internet;

FIG. 2 depicts schematically the Internet and computers connected to theInternet;

FIG. 2a illustrates schematically a structure of an IP-based packet;

FIG. 2b depicts schematically a computerized device communicating withWAPs;

FIG. 3 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart in a WDMarchitecture;

FIG. 3a illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart in a Linuxarchitecture;

FIG. 4 illustrates schematically a block diagram of a one-waycompression-based communication;

FIG. 4a illustrates schematically a block diagram of a two-waycompression-based communication;

FIG. 5 depicts schematically client devices, tunnel devices, and serversconnected to the Internet;

FIG. 5a illustrates schematically a table of data stored in a server;

FIG. 5b illustrates schematically a timing chart of messages and statesassociated with messages exchanged over the Internet in a system usingtunnel devices;

FIG. 6 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of a methodrelating to a client device using a single tunnel device;

FIG. 7 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of a methodrelating to a tunnel device;

FIG. 7a illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for increasinga number of connections to a server;

FIG. 7b illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart involvinglocally fetching of a content;

FIG. 8 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating to anacceleration server in a tunnel-device based system;

FIG. 9 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating to anacceleration server that also selects the tunnels to be used;

FIG. 10 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of a methodrelating to a client device using multiple tunnel devices;

FIG. 10a illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of a methodrelating to a client device using multiple tunnel devices and directaccess;

FIGS. 11, 11 a, and 11 b depict schematically messages exchanged overthe Internet between a client device and a data server, using differenttunnel devices;

FIG. 11c depicts schematically messages exchanged over the Internetbetween a client device and a data server using a direct access;

FIG. 12 depicts schematically client devices, tunnel devices, servers,and client/tunnel device connected to the Internet;

FIG. 12a depicts schematically messages exchanged over the Internetbetween a client device and a data server using a client/tunnel device;

FIG. 13 depicts schematically client devices, tunnel devices, andservers connected to the Internet, where the client device isimplemented using a proxy server;

FIG. 14 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of a methodrelating to a client device measuring and logging a communication with atunnel device;

FIG. 15 illustrates schematically a table of a log of transactions of aclient;

FIG. 15a illustrates schematically a table of a log of transactions of aclient relating to content fetching from a single data server;

FIG. 16 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of managing anumber of connections to a server by a client device;

FIG. 17 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of an accessingof an analytics server;

FIG. 17a illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of anintercepting and simulating access to an analytics server;

FIG. 18 depicts schematically a computerized device accessing DHCPservers;

FIG. 18a illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of accessingof a DHCP server;

FIG. 19 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of improving anaccessing of a DHCP server;

FIG. 20 depicts schematically client devices, agent devices, peerdevices, and server devices connected to the Internet;

FIG. 21 depicts schematically the relations of chunks relating to URLsand peer devices;

FIG. 21a depicts schematically the relations of content in peer devicesto content in agent devices;

FIG. 21b depicts schematically the relations of content in peer devicesto content of URLs;

FIG. 21c depicts schematically the relations of content in peer devicesto content in agent devices;

FIG. 22 illustrates schematically a timing chart of messages and statesassociated with messages exchanged over the Internet in a system usingpeer and agent devices;

FIGS. 23, 23 a, and 23 b illustrate schematically a simplified flowchartrelating to a client device using agent and peer devices;

FIG. 24 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating to anagent device;

FIG. 24a illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating to apeer device;

FIG. 25 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating to anacceleration server in a peer and agent devices system;

FIG. 25a illustrates schematically a table of data stored in anacceleration server;

FIG. 26 depicts schematically messages exchanged over the Internetbetween a client device and an acceleration server;

FIG. 26a depicts schematically messages exchanged over the Internetbetween a client device and an agent device;

FIGS. 26b, 26c, and 26d depict schematically messages exchanged over theInternet between a client device and a peer device;

FIG. 27 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating to aclient device measuring and logging a communication with a peer device;

FIG. 28 illustrates schematically a table representing a log oftransactions of a client device;

FIG. 28a illustrates schematically a table representing a log oftransactions of a client device relating to content fetching from asingle data server,

FIG. 29 depicts schematically timing considerations involving a clientdevice and peer devices;

FIG. 29a depicts schematically the calculations involving optimal timingconsiderations of a system involving a client device and peer devices;

FIG. 29b depicts schematically a chunks flow in a system involving aclient device and peer devices;

FIG. 29c depicts schematically an improved chunks flow in a systeminvolving a client device and peer devices;

FIG. 29d illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for animproved flow of chunks in a system involving a client device and peerdevices;

FIG. 29e depicts schematically a flow of chunks in a system involving aclient device and peer devices;

FIG. 29f depicts schematically an improved chunks flow in a systeminvolving a client device and peer devices;

FIG. 30 illustrates schematically a state diagram of a network element;

FIG. 31 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for determininga network element status;

FIG. 32 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for determininga network element status of a connected device;

FIG. 33 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for determiningby a client the content fetching method;

FIG. 34 depicts schematically client devices, tunnel devices, agentdevices, peer devices, and servers connected to the Internet;

FIG. 35 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating toselecting devices based on an attribute relating to their geographicallocation;

FIG. 36 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating toscaling an image;

FIG. 36a depicts schematically a part of a prior art image upscaling;

FIG. 36b depicts schematically a part of a prior art image downscaling;

FIG. 37 depicts schematically a prior art limited object movement on ascreen;

FIG. 37a depicts schematically an unlimited movement of an object on ascreen;

FIG. 38 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating tounlimited moving object on a screen;

FIG. 39 depicts schematically a computerized device communicating withlocked WAPs;

FIG. 40 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating toguessing passwords in a WiFi environment;

FIG. 41 depicts schematically computerized devices communicating withlocked WAPs;

FIG. 42 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating tosharing passwords in a WiFi environment;

FIG. 43 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating to thenormalizing reference of a video content;

FIG. 44 illustrates schematically a block diagram relating to queuingschemes in a WDM architecture;

FIG. 45 illustrates schematically a block diagram relating to animproved dynamic queuing scheme in a WDM architecture;

FIG. 46 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating toimplementing an improved dynamic queuing scheme;

FIG. 47 illustrates schematically a block diagram relating to a one-waycompression using a local dictionary;

FIG. 48 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating toimplementing a one-way compression using a local dictionary;

FIG. 48a illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating toimplementing a compression using both dictionaries;

FIG. 49 illustrates schematically a block diagram relating to multiplecopies of the same content;

FIG. 49a illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating tocomparing multiple copies of the same content;

FIG. 49b illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart relating tovalidating a copy of a content;

FIG. 50 illustrates schematically a gateway connecting network elementsover a WAN and a LAN;

FIG. 51 illustrates schematically using a VGS for communicating with agateway connecting network elements over a WAN and a LAN;

FIG. 51a illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of a VGS;

FIG. 52 depicts schematically a prior art of a cache arrangement in amemory;

FIG. 53 depicts schematically a cache arrangement in a memory usingoverwrite reduction;

FIG. 54 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for cacheoverwrite reduction and cleanup;

FIG. 55 depicts schematically a cache arrangement in a memory usingredundancy with overwrite reduction;

FIG. 56 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for cacheoverwrite reduction;

FIG. 57 depicts schematically a cache arrangement in a memory usingoverwrite reduction and having multiple chunk copies;

FIG. 58 depicts schematically a prior-art association of physicaladdresses to virtual addresses;

FIG. 59 illustrates schematically a simplified block diagram of a memorymanagement unit for translating between physical addresses and virtualaddresses;

FIG. 60 illustrates schematically a simplified block diagram of aprior-art memory management unit operation;

FIG. 61 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of a prior-artmethod of an exception handler;

FIG. 62 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of an NDCACHEoperation;

FIG. 63 illustrates schematically a simplified block diagram of anNDCACHE API;

FIG. 64 illustrates schematically a simplified block diagram of mountinga filesystem;

FIG. 65 illustrates schematically a simplified block diagram of mountinga TMPFS filesystem;

FIG. 66 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of an NDCACHEoperation using FS mounting;

FIG. 67 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of an NDCACHEoperation using user and kernel mode;

FIG. 68 illustrates schematically a first part of a simplified blockdiagram of a high-level implementation of NDCACHE;

FIG. 69 depicts schematically an arrangement in a memory of NDCACHEpages and using a lock flag;

FIG. 70 illustrates schematically a second part of a simplified blockdiagram of a high-level implementation of NDCACHE;

FIG. 71 illustrates schematically a third part of a simplified blockdiagram of a high-level implementation of NDCACHE;

FIG. 72 depicts schematically an arrangement in a memory of NDCACHEpages using multiple segments in the cache;

FIG. 73 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of an improvedNDCACHE operation;

FIG. 74 depicts schematically an arrangement in a memory of NDCACHEpages;

FIG. 75 illustrates schematically a first part of a simplified blockdiagram of a high-level implementation of an improved NDCACHE;

FIG. 76 illustrates schematically a second part of a simplified blockdiagram of a high-level implementation of an improved NDCACHE;

FIG. 77 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of an idlemonitor;

FIG. 78 illustrates schematically a simplified block diagram of an idlemonitor for reducing a storage read time;

FIG. 79 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of selectingWAP.

FIG. 80 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart of an improvedselection of a WAP;

FIG. 81 depicts schematically a network element selecting a WAP from twogroups of WAPs;

FIG. 82 depicts schematically a network element selecting a WAP based onthe WAP performance;

FIG. 83 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for selecting aWAP based on the WAP prior performance;

FIG. 84 illustrates schematically two network elements connected over anunreliable connection;

FIG. 85 illustrates schematically two network elements connected overmultiple unreliable connections;

FIG. 86 illustrates schematically two network elements connected overmultiple unreliable connections using a reliability proxy server;

FIG. 87 illustrates schematically two network elements connected overmultiple unreliable connections using two reliability proxy servers;

FIG. 88 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for using areliability proxy network server;

FIG. 89 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for carryingpackets over multiple routes;

FIG. 90 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for minimizingdisconnect times when using multiple routes;

FIG. 91 illustrates schematically a table containing IP related BW andRTT values;

FIG. 92 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for estimatingBW and RTT values relating to network elements;

FIG. 93 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for reading orstoring BW and RTT values relating to network elements; and

FIG. 94 illustrates schematically a simplified flowchart for estimatingBW and RTT values relating to network elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The principles and operation of an apparatus or a method according tothe present invention may be understood with reference to the figuresand the accompanying description wherein identical or similar components(either hardware or software) appearing in different figures are denotedby identical reference numerals. The drawings and descriptions areconceptual only. In actual practice, a single component can implementone or more functions; alternatively or in addition, each function canbe implemented by a plurality of components and devices. In the figuresand descriptions, identical reference numerals indicate those componentsthat are common to different embodiments or configurations. Identicalnumerical references (in some cases, even in the case of using differentsuffix, such as 5, 5 a, 5 b and 5 c) refer to functions or actualdevices that are either identical, substantially similar, similar, orhaving similar functionality. It will be readily understood that thecomponents of the present invention, as generally described andillustrated in the figures herein, could be arranged and designed in awide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following moredetailed description of the embodiments of the apparatus, system, andmethod of the present invention, as represented in the figures herein,is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, as claimed, but ismerely representative of embodiments of the invention. It is to beunderstood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” herein includeplural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus,for example, reference to “a component surface” includes reference toone or more of such surfaces. By the term “substantially” it is meantthat the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not beachieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including, forexample, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitationsand other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur inamounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intendedto provide.

Each of devices herein may consist of, include, be part of, or be basedon, a part of, or the whole of, the computer 11 or the system 100 shownin FIG. 1. Each of the servers herein may consist of, may include, ormay be based on, a part or a whole of the functionalities or structure(such as software) of any server described in the '604 patent, such asthe web server, the proxy server, or the acceleration server. Each ofthe clients or devices herein may consist of, may include, or may bebased on, a part or a whole of the functionalities or structure (such assoftware) of any client or device described in the '604 patent, such asthe peer, client, or agent devices.

In one example, an accessing to a data server is improved by using anintermediate device referred to as ‘tunnel’ device, that is executing a‘tunnel’ flowchart. FIG. 5 shows a system 30 including two clientdevices, a client device #1 31 a and a client device #2 31 b, that mayaccess the data servers 22 a and 22 b using one or more of a tunneldevice #1 33 a, a tunnel device #2 33 b, and a tunnel device #3 33 c,under the management and control of an acceleration server 32. Thesenetwork elements communicates with each other using the Internet 113.

The method of using a tunnel device is described below, based on adatabase 40 shown in FIG. 5a describing a list stored in theacceleration server 32, a flowchart 60 shown in FIG. 6 describing aclient device (such as the client device #1 31 a) operation, a flowchart 70 shown in FIG. 7 describing a tunnel device (such as the tunneldevice #1 33 a) operation, and a messaging and states timing chart 50shown in FIG. 5b . The chart 50 shows the messaging and related timingassociated with the operation of the acceleration server 32(corresponding to a dashed line 51 a), a client device such as theclient device #1 31 a (corresponding to a dashed line 51 b), a tunneldevice such as the tunnel device #1 33 a (corresponding to a dashed line51 c), and a data server such as the data server #1 22 a (correspondingto a dashed line 51 d). The flowchart 60 comprises a flowchart 64relating to a pre-connection phase, and a flowchart 65 describing acontent fetch phase, of the client device. Similarly, a flowchart 70comprises a flowchart 72 relating to the pre-connection phase, and aflowchart 73 describing the content fetch phase, of the tunnel device.The database 40 shown in FIG. 5a is illustrated as a table, wherein afirst column 41 a (designated as ‘TYPE’) relates to a devicefunctionality, such as tunnel or client, a second column 41 b(designated as ‘IP ADDRESS’) relates to the respective device IPaddress, a third column 41 c (designated as ‘SIGN-IN DATE/TIME’) relatesto a timestamping including a date (in DD/MM format) and a time when arespective device signed in with the acceleration server, and a fourthcolumn 41 d, relating to the device physical geographical location. Atop row 42 in the table refers to the field designations. First 42 a,second 42 b, third 42 c, fourth 42 d, and fifth 42 e rows in the table,respectively relate to first, second, third, fourth, and fifth devicesthat signed in with the acceleration server 32. For example, the seconddevice shown in the row 42 b has signed in as a tunnel device as shownin the column 41 a, timestamped as January 23^(k) at 8:55 as shown inthe third column 41 c, and can be addressed over the Internet using theIP address 109.23.78.5 as shown in the second column 41 b.

The process starts upon initializing a tunnel application in a tunneldevice, schematically shown as a step ‘START’ 71 a in the flowchart 70,corresponding to a state 54 a ‘Start’ in the chart 50. Suchinitialization may be executed upon the device powering up process, orupon a user request. Then the tunnel device #1 33 a sign in with theacceleration server 32 in a step ‘Sign-in as Tunnel’ 71 b, whichcorresponds to a message ‘Sign In’ 56 a in the chart 50. The messagecomprises the device functionality as ‘tunnel’, and the device 33 aidentification on the Internet 113, such as its IP address (for example125.12.67.0). The message ‘Sign In’ is received as the accelerationserver 32, which updates the database of the signed-in devices in astate ‘Update List’ 52 a, as shown in a first row 42 a in the table 40.The acceleration server 32 further log to the database the date and timeof the signing in, such as 23/1 as the date and 7:32 as the time, asshown in the third column 41 c of the table 40. The acceleration server32 further adds rows to the table per each added tunnel device in a caseof multiple tunnel devices, such as the addition of the tunnel device #233 b, that its signing-in details are shown in the second row 42 b, asaddressed by the IP address 109.23.78.5 and having signed in at 23/1 at8:55.

Similarly, the client device #1 31 a starts and sign in with theacceleration server 32. The process starts upon initializing a clientapplication in a client device, schematically shown as a step ‘START’ 61a in the flowchart 60, corresponding to a state 53 a ‘Start’ in thechart 50. Such initialization may be executed upon the device poweringup process, or upon a user request. Then the client device #1 31 a signin with the acceleration server 32 in a step ‘Sign-in as Client’ 61 b,which corresponds to a message ‘Sign In’ 56 b in the chart 50. Themessage comprises the device functionality as ‘client’, and the device31 a identification on the Internet 113, such as its IP address (forexample 36.83.92.12). The message ‘Sign In’ is received as theacceleration server 32, which updates the database of the signed-indevices in a state ‘Update List’ 52 b, as shown in the third row 42 c inthe table 40. The acceleration server 32 further logs to the databasethe date and time of the signing in, such as 23/1 as the date and 10:44as the time, as shown in the third column 41 c of the table 40. Theacceleration server 32 further adds to the table an additional row pereach newly signed client device in a case of multiple client devices,such as the addition of the client device #2 31 b, that its signing-indetails are shown in the second row 42 d, as addressed by the IP address125.66.69.73 and having signed in at 24/1 on 15:34.

In order to make the communication between a client device and a tunneldevice faster and more efficient, a pre-connection phase is defined,where a preparation for communication such as a TCP connection isestablished, allowing for quick data transfer afterwards. Thepre-connection phase starts at a ‘Start Pre-Connection’ state 53 b inthe chart 50, followed by the ‘Request List’ message 56 c (correspondingto the ‘Request Tunnels List’ step 62 in the flowchart 60), being partof the Pre-connection client flowchart 64, where the client 31 arequests the list of the available tunnels that may be used, from theacceleration server 32. The tunnel device #1 33 a at this point isidling in an ‘IDLE’ step 72 c shown in the flowchart 70, being part ofthe Pre-connection tunnel flowchart 72. In response to the client device31 a request, the acceleration server 32 prepares in a step ‘PrepareList’ 52 b the list of current available tunnels, and sends the list asa ‘Send List’ message 56 d to the client device 31 a, which in turnreceives the list as part of a ‘Receive Tunnels List’ step 62 b.

Based on pre-set criteria, a tunnel device (or multiple tunnel devices)is selected by the client device #1 31 a in a ‘Tunnel Select’ step 53 c(corresponding to a ‘Select Tunnel’ step 62 c in the flowchart 60). Forexample, the tunnel device #1 33 a may be selected. Then, pre-connectionis initiated in an ‘Initiate Pre-Connection’ step 62 d, where an‘Initiate Pre-Connection’ message 56 e is sent to the tunnel device #133 a, which starts the pre-connection in a ‘Pre-Connection Start’ state54 b, and replies the ‘Pre-Connection’ message 56 f to the client device31 a, thus completing the pre-connection phase.

The pre-connection process involves establishing a connection (directlyor via a server) between the client device #1 31 a (executing theflowchart 64) and the tunnel device #1 33 a (executing the flowchart72). The handshaking between the two devices at this stage involvesforming the connection by exchanging communication-related information.The formed connection may be used later for efficiently exchange databetween the devices. In one example, the communication between thedevices uses TCP, and the pre-connection is used for establishing aconnection by forming ‘passive open’, involving exchanging SYN, SYN-ACK,and ACK messages. In one example, the message ‘Initiate Pre-Connection’message 56 e includes a SYN message, and the ‘Pre-Connection’ message 56f includes an ACK message.

In another example, a VPN is formed between the devices, and thetunneling or the VPN establishment is performed as part of thepre-connection phase. The tunnel endpoints are authenticated beforesecure VPN tunnels can be established. User-created remote-access VPNsmay use passwords, biometrics, two-factor authentication, or any othercryptographic methods. Network-to-network tunnels often use passwords ordigital certificates, and permanently stores the key in order to allow atunnel to establish automatically, without intervention from a user.

As long as the client device #1 31 a is not requiring any content from adata server as described in a ‘Content Required?’ step 63 a, the deviceis idling in an ‘IDLE’ step 62 e. Once the client device #1 31 adetermines that external content from a data server is required, asshown in a ‘Content Required’ state 53 d, a ‘Content Request’ message 56g (shown in the messaging chart 50) is sent (corresponding to a ‘SendContent Request’ step 63 b in the flowchart 60) to the selected tunneldevice #1 33 a. The request is received at the tunnel device #1 33 a ata ‘Request Received’ state 54 c, corresponding to a ‘Receive ContentRequest’ 73 b in the flowchart 70). In response, the tunnel device 33 asends a ‘Content Request’ message 56 h to the data server #1 22 a(corresponding to a ‘Send Request To Server’ step 73 c), requesting thecontent that was requested by the client device #1 31 a. The data server#1 22 a receives the request and prepares the requested content in a‘Content Prepared’ state 55 a, and sends the requested content back tothe tunnel device #1 33 a in a ‘Send Content’ message 56 i, received bythe tunnel device #1 33 a in a ‘Receive Content from Server’ step 73 d.The received content is prepared in a ‘Content Prepared’ state 54 d, andthen sent, in a ‘Send Content’ message 56 j (corresponding to a ‘SendContent To Client’ step 73 e), to the client device #1 31 a. The tunneldevice 33 a may then revert to idling in the ‘IDLE’ step 73 a, until anew request is received. The requested content is received in a ‘ContentReceived’ state 53 e in the timing chart 50, corresponding to a ‘ReceiveContent’ step 63 c shown in the flowchart 60. The client device 31 a maythen revert to idling in the ‘IDLE’ step 62 e, until a new content isrequired. When such new content is required as determined as part of the‘Content Required?’ step 63 a, the process repeats by sending a ‘ContentRequest’ message 56 k, corresponding to the ‘Send Content Request’ step63 b. In one example, the ‘Content Fetch’ flowchart 73 executed by thetunnel device #1 33 a may be a typical HTTP session for accessing acontent from a web-server.

The content herein may consist of, or comprise, data such as files,text, numbers, audio, voice, multimedia, video, images, music, computerprograms or any other sequence of instructions, as well as any otherform of information represented as a string of bits, bytes, orcharacters. In one example, the content may include, be a part of, or awhole of, a URL or a website page.

The acceleration server 32 generally executes a flowchart 80 shown inFIG. 8. The server 32 is idling in an ‘IDLE’ step 81 a until a requestis received from one of the devices in the network. The request may be asign-in request, as checked in a ‘Sign-In Request?’ step 81 b, which maybe the result of a signing in of the client device #1 31 a as part ofthe ‘Sign-in as Client’ step 61 b in the client flowchart 60, or may bethe result of a signing in of the tunnel device #1 33 a as part of the‘Sign-in as Tunnel’ step 71 b in the tunnel flowchart 70. In the case ofsigning in, the server 32 update the database such as the table 40 shownin FIG. 5a in an ‘Update Table’ step 81 c, corresponding to an ‘UpdateList’ state 52 a for tunnel signing-in and an ‘Update List’ state 52 bfor the client signing-in in the timing chart 50. In a ‘List Request?’step 81 d the acceleration server 32 checks for receiving a request fromthe client device #1 31 a as part of a ‘Request Tunnels List’ step 62 a,corresponding to the message ‘Request List’ 56 c in the timing chart 50.In response to such request, the server 32 compiles a list of tunnelsthat can be used by the client device #1 31 a to serve the receivedrequest, as part of a ‘Prepare List’ step 81 e (corresponding to a‘Prepare List’ state 52 c in the timing chart 50). The compiled list issent to the client device 31 a as part of a ‘Send List’ step 81 f,corresponding to a ‘Send List’ message 56 d in the timing chart 50.After completing the signing-in or sending list processes, the server 32reverts to idling in the ‘IDLE’ step 81 a.

Data servers (such as the data server #1 22 a) typically limit thenumber of concurrent active connections with connected devices (hosts).In many cases, a web page content may include multiple URLs, and it isbeneficial to open many concurrent connections, each for one or more ofthe URLs, to accelerate the fetching of the web site content. In oneexample, the maximum number of connections permitted by the data serverfrom which the content is to be fetched is sent to a tunnel device, suchas the tunnel device #1 33 a, as part of the ‘Pre-connection Tunnel #1’step 64 a or the ‘Content Fetch Tunnel #1’ step 65 a, shown as part ofthe flowchart 100 in FIG. 10. In response, the tunnel device #1 33 a aspart of the ‘Send Request To Server’ step 73 c, opens the requestednumber of connections with the respective data server. For example, theclient may request, based on stored information in the client device(such as based on former interaction with the respective data serverreceived from a tunnel device as part of a ‘Notify Client’ step 74 c),sends the tunnel device a request to open 8 connections, which is knownto be the maximum available (or allowable) number of connectionsrelating to the specific data server. The client device may request allthe tunnel devices used to use the maximum number of connections. Forexample, assuming 3 tunnel devices are used, and the maximum connectionsper host (device) is limited (by the data server) to 10 connections perhost, each tunnel device may open the maximum 10 connections available.Hence, such scenario results in total open connections (for fetching therequested content) to be 10*3=30, which is 3 times better than using asingle tunnel device, or when compared to a direct content fetching bythe single client device from the data server. In another example,assuming the limitation of the data server is 8 connections, and whereinthe client device sets the optimal number of total of 15 connections,the client device may request one tunnel device to use 8 connection andanother tunnel device to use 7 connections, thus obtaining the optimal8+7=15 connections.

Alternatively or in addition, a tunnel device may try to open as manyconnections as available, as described in a flowchart 74 shown in FIG.7a . The flowchart 74 corresponds to the flowchart 73 shown in FIG. 7.In parallel to starting the content fetching from the data server in the‘Send Request To Server’ step 73 c and starting the reception of contentfrom the data server in the ‘Receive Content From Server’ step 73 d, thetunnel device tries to open an additional connection (or multipleadditional connections) to those already in use in a ‘OpenConnection(s)’ step 74 a. In the case the additional connection wasproperly established, as is checked in a ‘Successful?’ step 74 b, thetunnel device reverts to try to open an additional connection in the‘Open Connection(s)’ step 74 a. In the case no additional connection canbe established, typically because the limit set by the data server wasreached, the tunnel device notifies the client device in the ‘NotifyClient’ step 74 c of the maximum number of connections available forthis data server. This notification allows the client device to use suchinformation for use with other tunnel devices communicating with thisdata server or for future use with the data server.

Alternatively or in addition, a tunnel device may be used to store acontent to be provided to a client device, as described in a flowchart75 shown in FIG. 7b , which corresponds to the flowchart 73 shown inFIG. 7. Upon receiving a request for content from a client device, atunnel device (such as the tunnel device #1 33 a) first checks if therequested content is stored locally (in the tunnel device itself), suchas in its cache memory, in a ‘Locally Available?’ step 75 a. Therequested content may be stored in the tunnel device as a result of aformer accessing the respective data server, for example by a webbrowser (or any other application) that is part of the tunnel device.Alternatively or in addition, the content may be stored as part of a‘Store Content From Server’ step 75 b in a past fetching of content, forthis client device or for another client device. If the content isavailable locally in the tunnel device, the overhead, time, andresources, of accessing the respective data server are obviated, and thelocally stored requested content is sent to the client device in the‘Send Content To Client’ step 73 e. In the case the requested content isnot locally available, the tunnel device continues as described in theflowchart 73 to fetch the content from the data server. Alternatively orin addition, upon receiving the requested content from the data serverin the ‘Receive Content From Server’ step 73 d, the receive content maybe stored locally in the tunnel device for future use, in the ‘StoreContent From Server’ step 75 b. Storing of the received content may beexecuted before, after, or in parallel to sending the content to therequesting client device in the ‘Send Content To Client’ step 73 e.

Since the data server #1 22 a is accessed by, and sends information onlyto, tunnel devices (such as the tunnel device #1 33 a), and is not awareof the final content destination being the client device #1 31 a, theidentity (such as the IP address) of the client device #1 31 a isconcealed from the data server #1 22 a, thus providing anonymity anduntraceability. Further, in a case where the data server #1 22 a is aweb server, the method and system described may provide for an anonymousweb browsing. Further, the system and method provide an Internet trafficroute for the content delivery that is distinct from the typicalapproach where the client device #1 31 a access the data server #1 22 adirectly over the Internet, hence may alleviates bottlenecks andconserve bandwidth. Furthermore, since multiple parts of the contentstored in a data server (such as the data server #1 22 a) are loaded inparallel to a client device (such as the client device #1 31 a) usingmultiple distinct paths, the content is fetched faster and using moreeffectively the network resources.

A schematic messaging flow diagram 110 describing the client device #131 a related ‘content fetch’ flowchart 65 and the tunnel device #1 33 arelated flowchart 73 is shown in FIG. 11. A ‘Content Request’ message111 a (corresponding to the ‘Content Request’ message 56 g in the timingchart 50) is first sent from the client device #1 31 a to the selectedtunnel device #1 33 a, which responds by forwarding the request to thedata server #1 22 a using a ‘Content Request’ message 111 b(corresponding to the ‘Content Request’ message 56 h in the timing chart50). In turn the data server #1 replies and sends the content in a ‘SendContent’ message 111 c (corresponding to the ‘Send Content’ message 56 iin the timing chart 50) to the requesting tunnel device #1 33 a, whichin turn forward the fetched content to the asking client device #1 31 ausing a ‘Send Content’ message 111 d (corresponding to the ‘SendContent’ message 56 j in the timing chart 50).

While accessing the data server #1 22 a was exampled above using thetunnel device #1 33 a as an intermediary device, the system and theclient #1 31 a may use multiple tunnel devices in order to fetch thecontent from the same data server #1 22 a. Two, three, four, or anyother number of tunnel devices, serving as intermediary devices havingthe same or similar role as the tunnel device #1 33 a, may be equallyused. In one example, three tunnel devices may be used, such as addingthe tunnel device #2 33 b and the tunnel device #3 33 c, shown in system30 in FIG. 5. Each of the tunnel devices may execute the flow chart 70shown in FIG. 7.

A flowchart 100 relating to the client device #1 31 a when employingthree tunnel devices is shown in FIG. 10, based on the flowchart 60described above. Upon receiving a list of available tunnel in a ‘ReceiveTunnels List’ step 62 b from the Acceleration server 32, the clientdevice #1 31 a selects multiple tunnels from the received list, ratherthan selecting a single tunnel as described in the ‘Select Tunnel’ step62 c described above. In the described example, three distinct tunneldevices are selected from the list, such as the tunnel device #1 33 a(as before), the tunnel device #2 33 b, and the tunnel device #3 33 c.The client device 31 a executes three pre-connection processes in a‘Pre-Connection Tunnel #1’ step 64 a, a ‘Pre-Connection Tunnel #2’ step64 b, and a ‘Pre-Connection Tunnel #3’ step 64 c (each corresponding tothe ‘Pre-connection’ flow chart 64 above), followed by a ‘Content FetchTunnel #1’ step 65 a, a ‘Content Fetch Tunnel #2’ step 65 b, and a‘Content Fetch Tunnel #3’ step 65 c, respectively (each corresponding tothe ‘Content Fetch’ flow chart 65 above).

In such a configuration, three distinct data paths are involved in thecontent fetching. In addition to the messaging data path 110, amessaging flow 110 a shown in FIG. 11a describes the usage of the tunneldevice #2 33 b as an intermediary device, relating to the client device#1 31 a ‘content fetch’ related flowchart 65 b and the tunnel device #233 b related flowchart 73. A ‘Content Request’ message 112 a(corresponding to the ‘Content Request’ message 56 g in the timing chart50) is first sent from the client device #1 31 a to the selected tunneldevice #2 33 b, which responds by forwarding the request to the dataserver #1 22 a using a ‘Content Request’ message 112 b (corresponding tothe ‘Content Request’ message 56 h in the timing chart 50). In turn thedata server #1 replies and sends the content in a ‘Send Content’ message112 c (corresponding to the ‘Send Content’ 56 i in the timing chart 50)to the requesting tunnel device #2 33 b, which in turn forward thefetched content to the asking client device #1 31 a using a ‘SendContent’ message 112 d (corresponding to the ‘Send Content’ message 56 jin the timing chart 50). Similarly, a messaging flow 110 b shown in FIG.11b describes the usage of the tunnel device #3 33 c as an intermediarydevice, relating to the client device #1 31 a associated with ‘contentfetch’ in the flowchart 65 c and with the tunnel device #2 33 b in theflowchart 73. The ‘Content Request’ message 115 a (corresponding to the‘Content Request’ message 56 g in the timing chart 50) is first sentfrom the client device #1 31 a to the selected tunnel device #3 33 c,which responds by forwarding the request to the data server #1 22 ausing the ‘Content Request’ message 115 b (corresponding to ‘ContentRequest’ message 56 h in the timing chart 50). In turn the data server#1 22 a replies and sends the content in the ‘Send Content’ message 115c (corresponding to the ‘Send Content’ message 56 i in the timing chart50) to the requesting tunnel device #3 33 c, which in turn forward thefetched content to the asking client device #1 31 a using the ‘SendContent’ message 115 d (corresponding to the ‘Send Content’ message 56 jin the timing chart 50).

Alternatively or in addition to accessing the data server #1 22 a viaintermediary devices such as one or more tunnel devices as describedherein, the client device #1 31 a may also directly access the dataserver #1 22 a for fetching the content therefrom. Such a flowchart 100a is shown in FIG. 10a , where a ‘Content Fetch Direct’ step 65 d isadded. In this step 65 d, the client device #1 31 a directly accessesthe data server #1 22 a, as typically known, and in the same way, or ina similar way, the tunnel devices are accessing the data server #1 22 afor fetching content therefrom. Such direct access is shown in messagingflow 110 c shown in FIG. 11c , where no intermediary device is used. The‘Content Request’ message 114 a (which may be corresponding to the‘Content Request’ message 56 g in the timing chart 50) is first sentfrom the client device #1 31 a to the data server #1 22 a. In turn thedata server #1 22 a replies and sends the content in the ‘Send Content’message 114 b (which may be corresponding to the ‘Send Content’ message56 i in the timing chart 50) to the client device #1 31 a. As usedherein, a direct access by a client device, such as the client device #131 a, is considered as if the client device itself serves as a tunneldevice for itself.

In one example, the same content (from the same data server #1 22 a) isrequested by the client device #1 31 a, from all the selected tunneldevices. In such a case, the same content is requested and fetched inthe ‘Content Fetch’ flowcharts. In the example of three tunnel devicesshown in a flowchart 100, the same content may be defined to berequested (and later fetched) in the ‘Content Fetch Tunnel #1’ step 65a, the ‘Content Fetch Tunnel #2’ step 65 b, and the ‘Content FetchTunnel #3’ step 65 c. Such configuration may be advantageous, forexample, in the case where one or multiple data paths are unstable orunreliable, or provide intermittent connection. In the case whereinmultiple redundant tunnels and data paths are used, there is a higherprobability to fetch the required content, even if one or more of thedata paths are problematic or non-functioning. For example, in the casewhere the tunnel device #1 33 a and the tunnel device #3 33 c are notfully functioning or having a momentary (or continuous) problem fetchingthe requested content, still the tunnel device #2 33 b may provide thecontent. Further, such redundant operation may allow for quicker andfaster content fetching, since the client device #1 31 a may use thecontent first to be received, hence using the faster content fetchingroute. For example, in case of the tunnel device #1 33 a replying andproviding the content after 12 milliseconds, the tunnel device #2 33 breplying and providing the content after 23 milliseconds, and the tunneldevice #3 33 c replying and providing the content after 5 milliseconds,the content is available at the client device #1 31 a after 5milliseconds, and there is no need to wait for the other tunnels toreply. Similarly, in case of a direct access, the client device #1 31 adirect access is added as a redundant content fetching path to thetunnels-associated data paths.

The tasks relating to the different data paths, such as shown in aflowchart 100 a, relating to communicating with the multiple tunneldevices and/or direct access, may be executed sequentially or inparallel. Further, each of the messages transferred shown in themessaging charts and data paths, such as in the diagrams 110, 110 a, 110b, and 110 c, may be executed, or may occur, sequentially or inparallel. For example, in case of multiple pre-connection processes, theclient device #1 31 a may execute the processes sequentially, meaninginitiating a new pre-connection only after a former pre-connection iscompleted (or only upon being successfully completed). For example,relating to the flowchart 100 a, the client device first executes the‘Pre-connection Tunnel #1’ step 64 a, and only upon completion of thisstep initiates the ‘Pre-connection Tunnel #2’ step 64 b, and only uponcompletion of the latter step initiates the ‘Pre-connection Tunnel #3’step 64 c. Alternatively or in addition, the processes may be executedin parallel, using a multitasking.

Similarly, in case of multiple connect fetching processes, the clientdevice #1 31 a may execute the processes sequentially, meaninginitiating a new content fetching only after a former content fetchingis completed (or only upon being successfully completed). For example,relating to the flowchart 100 a, the client device first executes the‘Content Fetch Direct’ step 65 d, and only upon completion of this stepinitiates the ‘Content Fetch Tunnel #1’ step 65 a, and only uponcompletion of the latter step initiates the ‘Content Fetch Tunnel #2’step 65 b. Alternatively or in addition, the processes may be executedin parallel, using a multitasking.

The client device 31 a may select a single tunnel device to be used asan intermediary device as described above relating to the ‘SelectTunnel’ step 62 c. Alternatively or addition, the client device 31 a mayselect a plurality of tunnel devices (including itself as described inthe ‘Content Fetch Direct’ step 65 d) to be used as an intermediarydevice as described above relating to the ‘Select Tunnels’ step 101 a.The selection of a tunnel or of multiple tunnels may be based on pre-setcriteria. The selection may use various attributes or characteristics ofthe tunnel devices, its operation environment, history, and any othercharacteristics. The attributes associated with each tunnel device maybe stored in the acceleration server 23, and sent to the client device#1 31 a as part of the available tunnel devices list, so that the clientdevice #1 31 a may use these attributes for the selection process. Thecriteria herein may be used independently or in combination. In yetanother alternative, the selection is based on timing measurement, suchas Time-of-Day (TOD). For example, one selection scheme may be used on adaily basis from 2.00 AM to 3.00 AM, a different selection from 3.00 AMto 4.00 AM and so on, cycling in a 24-hour day. Similarly, each day ofthe week may use different selection. Any combination of the schemesdescribed herein may be equally used. Any number of tunnel devices maybe selected. The number of tunnel devices that are selected in the‘Select Tunnels’ step 101 a may be 1 (one) (corresponding to the ‘SelectTunnel’ step 62 c). Alternatively, a small number of tunnel devices maybe selected, such as 2 or 3. Alternatively, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10tunnel devices may be selected. Further, more than 10 tunnel devices maybe selected, such as 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50.

The client device 31 a may select a single tunnel device to be used asan intermediary device as described above relating to the ‘SelectTunnel’ step 62 c. Alternatively or addition, the client device #1 31 amay select a plurality of tunnel devices (including itself as describedin the ‘Content Fetch Direct’ step 65 d) to be used as an intermediarydevice as described above relating to the ‘Select Tunnels’ step 101 a.Alternatively or in addition, the tunnel devices to be used may beselected by the acceleration server 32, and the tunnel list sent to theclient device #1 31 a (in the ‘Send List’ step 81 f and received by theclient device #1 31 a in the ‘Receive Tunnels List’ step 62 b) mayinclude only the identification (e.g., IP address) of the tunnel devicesto be used as intermediary devices to the client device #1 31 a. Such aflowchart 90 to be executed by the acceleration server 32 is shown inFIG. 9. After preparing a list of available or potential tunnel devicesthat may be used in the ‘Prepare List’ step 81 e, the accelerationserver 32 itself selects in a ‘Select Tunnels’ step 101 a the tunneldevices that are to be used by the client device #1 31 a, and sends onlythese tunnel devices list to the client device #1 31 a in a ‘SendSelected List’ step 91 a.

Alternatively or in addition, the tunnel devices to be used may beselected by both the client device #1 31 a and the acceleration server32 working in cooperation. In one example, the acceleration server 32(for example, as part of the ‘Select Tunnels’ step 101 a in the flowchart 90) may select a subgroup of suggested, offered, or recommendedtunnel devices that can be used, while the client device #1 31 a (forexample, as part of the ‘Select Tunnels’ step 101 a in the flow chart100) further selects and uses a subset of the tunnel devices from thelist of offered suggested tunnel devices. Alternatively or in addition,the tunnel devices to be used may be selected by the acceleration server32, based on rules or criteria set by, or requested from, the clientdevice #1 31 a. For example, as part of the requesting of tunnel deviceslist in the ‘Request Tunnels List’ step 62 a, the client device #1 31 amay send to the acceleration server 32 a set or rules or criteria,relating to the tunnel devices that are to be used by this client, whichmay relate to various attributes or characteristics of the availabletunnel devices. In one example, the criteria may be the geographicallocation of the tunnel devices. The client device #1 31 a may ask fortunnel devices only in a specific location, such as a specific country,and in response the acceleration server 32 may select tunnel devicesonly in the specified country (for example, in the ‘Select Tunnel’ step101 a in the flowchart 90) and send only this list (for example in the‘Send Selected List’ step 91 a) to the client device #1 31 a. Forexample, relating to the example of the table 40 shown in FIG. 5a , inthe case the client device #1 31 a asks for tunnels only in Germany (orEurope), only the second listed tunnel device in the row 42 b may beincluded in the list, being the only one located in Germany.

The selection of the tunnel device (or devices) to be used, or thepriorities assigned to them, may be based on the available communicationattributes or their history. For example, based on the costs associatedwith the usage of a network, the higher cost network may have lowerpriority and less used than lower cost or free network. In anotherexample, a high quality network, such as having a higher availablebandwidth or throughput, lower communication errors or packet loss,lower hops to destination, or lower transfer delay time, is havinghigher priority that a lower quality network. The system may use BitError Rate (BER), Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Packet LossRatio (PLR), Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) and other indicators ormeasures associated with the communication channel associated with anetwork interface, and may be based on, use, or include the methodologyand schemes described in RFC 2544 entitled: “Benchmarking Methodologyfor Network Interconnect Devices”, and ITU-T Y.1564 entitled: “EthernetService Activation Test Methodology”, which are both incorporated intheir entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. Thenetwork quality grade may be affected by the history of using such anetwork, for example during a pre-set period before the process ofselection of a network interface. In one example, the network interfacewhere the last proper packet was received from may be selected as theinterface to be used for the next packet to be transmitted. The systemmay further use, or be based on, the schemes and technologies describedin U.S. Pat. No. 7,027,418 to Gan et al. entitled: “Approach forSelecting Communications Channels Based on Performance”, which isincorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein.

Random:

In one example, the tunnel device (or devices) to be used are randomlyselected. Randomness is commonly implemented by using random numbers,defined as a sequence of numbers or symbols that lack any pattern andthus appear random, are often generated by a random number generator.Randomness is described, for example, in IETF RFC 1750 “RandomnessRecommendations for Security” (December 1994), which is incorporated inits entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. A randomnumber generator (having either analog or digital output) can behardware based, using a physical process such as thermal noise, shotnoise, nuclear decaying radiation, photoelectric effect or other quantumphenomena. Alternatively, or in addition, the generation of the randomnumbers can be software based, using a processor executing an algorithmfor generating pseudo-random numbers which approximates the propertiesof random numbers.

Physical Location:

In one example, the selection criterion is based on physicalgeographical location of a tunnel device. For example, a tunnel device,which is geographically the closest to the data server #1 22 a fromwhich a content is to be requested, will be the first to be selected.The second nearest tunnel device will be the second to be selected, andso on. In this scheme, tunnel devices which are in the same city as thedata server #1 22 a, will have highest priority than other tunneldevices in the same country, then in the same continent and so forth.Alternatively or in addition, the criterion may be based on the physicaldistance between a tunnel device and the acceleration server 32location, or on the physical distance between a tunnel device and theclient device #1 31 a. In one example, the tunnel devices may beselected based on being in a location, which is the most distant fromthe data server #1 22 a, the acceleration server 32, or the clientdevice #1 31 a. The information about the tunnel device locations may beobtained, for example, from the tunnel devices themselves during thesigning-up process. In such a scheme, the tunnel device sends itsphysical geographical location (which may include country, state orprovince, city, street address, or ZIP code) as part of the sign-inprocess, and the location is stored in the acceleration server as partof the tunnels related database. The table 40 in FIG. 5a shows variousdevices in the system listed with associated cities and countries in thefourth column 41 d. In the example shown, the first row 42 a relates toa tunnel device located in Boston, Mass., in the United States, thesecond row 42 b relates to a tunnel device located in Munich in Germany,the third row 42 c relates to a client device located in Sidney inAustralia, the fourth row 42 d relates to a client device located atTel-Aviv in Israel, and the fifth row 42 e relates to a device locatedat Cairo in Egypt. In the case wherein the criterion involved relates tothe node closest to the data server #1 22 a, which for example islocated in London in the United-Kingdom, the first (or only) tunneldevice to be selected may be the second tunnel device associated withthe second row 42 b, being in Europe and thus the geographically closestdevice. In one example, the device location may be obtained using itsbuilt-in Global Positioning System (GPS), and may include the latitude,longitude, and timezone of the device location.

IP Address:

In one example, the IP address is used as a measure to determine‘closeness’. For example, an IP address that is numerically close toanother IP, may be considered as ‘geographically’ close. In thiscontext, 192.166.3.103 is closer to 192.166.3.212 than to 192.167.3.104.Alternatively or in addition, devices that share the same ISP areconsidered as ‘close’, since it is likely that better and fastercommunication is provided, since the need to communicate via theInternet is obviated.

Timing:

In one example, the timing of an event or activity of a tunnel deviceaffects its selection. The timing of a tunnel device signing up with theacceleration server 32 may be used for the selection criterion. Thefirst available tunnel device that signed in may be first selected, thenthe second in line. In the example of the table 40 shown in FIG. 5a ,the tunnel device associated with the first row 42 a will be first to beselected, having the earliest sign-in time (23/1, 7:32), while thefollowing tunnel device to sign in (shown in the row 42 b) will beselected next. Alternatively or in addition, the latest signed-in tunneldevice will be the first to be selected.

Alternatively or in addition, the time of the last usage as the tunneldevice may be used as a criterion. For example, a tunnel device that wasmost recently used will have the highest priority to be reselected.Alternatively, a ‘fairness’ rule will be applied in order to uniformlyuse all available channels, where a tunnel device will be selected if itwas not used the most time.

The content requested by the client device #1 31 a may be partitionedinto multiple parts or ‘slices’. Any number of slices may be used. Theslicing may be in a bit, nibble (4-bits), byte (8-bits), word (multiplebytes), character, string, or file level. For example, in a case whereinthe content includes 240 bytes designated byte #1 to byte #240, using abyte level partitioning into two slices results in a first slice (slice#1) including byte #1 to byte #120, and a second slice (slice #2)including byte #121 to byte #240. In the case of byte-level partitioninginto three slices (referred as slice #1, slice #2, and slice #3), afirst slice (slice #1) may be including byte #1 to byte #80, a secondslice (slice #2) may be including byte #81 to byte #160, and a thirdslice (slice #3) may be including byte #161 to byte #240. Similarly, ina case wherein the content include 3 bytes designated byte #1 to byte #3representing 24 bits, using a bit-level partitioning into four slicesresults in a slice #1 including the first 6 bits, slice #2 including thenext 6 bits, slice #3 including the next 6 bits, and slice #4 includingthe last 6 bits. The partition may be into equal length parts.Alternatively or in addition, a different length slicing may be applied.For example, in the case of a 240 bytes content and using byte-levelpartitioning into three slices (referred as slice #1, slice #2, andslice #3), a first slice (slice #1) may be including byte #1 to byte #20(20-byte length), a second slice (slice #2) may be including byte #21 tobyte #100 (80-byte length), and a third slice (slice #3) may beincluding byte #101 to byte #240 (140-byte length). In one example, thecontent itself is made of inherent or identifiable parts or segments,and the partition may make use of these parts. In one example, thecontent may be a website content composed of multiple webpages, and thusthe partition may be such that each slice includes one (or few)webpages. Further, the partitioning may be sequential or non-sequentialin the content.

The partitioning may be non-overlapping, wherein each slice includes adistinct part of the content, as is exampled above in a case wherein thecontent includes 240 bytes designated byte #1 to byte #240, where usinga byte level partitioning into three slices (referred as slice #1, slice#2, and slice #3), results in a first slice (slice #1) including byte #1to byte #80, a second slice (slice #2) including byte #81 to byte #160,and a third slice (slice #3) including byte #161 to byte #240.Alternatively or in addition, an overlapping partitioning may beapplied, where the same part of the content is included in multipleslices. For example, in a case above where the content includes 240bytes designated byte #1 to byte #240, and using a byte levelpartitioning into three slices (referred as slice #1, slice #2, andslice #3), a first slice (slice #1) may include byte #1 to byte #160, asecond slice (slice #2) may include byte #81 to byte #240, and a thirdslice (slice #3) may include byte #1 to byte #80 in addition to byte#161 to byte #240. In such a case, byte #1 to byte #80 are part of bothslice #1 and slice #3, byte #81 to byte #160 are part of both slice #1and slice #2, and byte #161 to byte #240 are part of both slice #2 andslice #3. It is noted that in such a partition, the content may be fullyreconstructed from any two of the slices, hence providing a degree ofredundancy. For example, in case of carrying the three slices over theInternet and a failure to receive one of the slices, the remaining twoslices may be used to fully reconstruct the whole content.

The same content may be requested and fetched using multiple tunneldevices as exampled above. Alternatively or in addition, the content maybe partitioned into multiple slices (overlapping or non-overlapping),where each slice is requested and fetched using a distinct tunnel device(or via the client device serving as its own tunnel). The content ispartitioned into slices in a ‘Content Partition’ step 101 b shown in theflowchart 100. In one example, each of the slices is allocated to adifferent tunnel device, and fetched via that tunnel device as explainedherein. For example, in the case of partitioning into 3 slices, whereslice #1 may be fetched via the tunnel device #1 33 a in a ‘ContentFetch Tunnel #1’ step 65 a, slice #2 may be fetched via the tunneldevice #2 33 b in a ‘Content Fetch Tunnel #2’ step 65 b, and slice #2may be fetched via the tunnel device #3 33 c in a ‘Content Fetch Tunnel#3’ step 65 c. Alternatively or in addition, a slice (or multipleslices) may be requested and fetched via two or more tunnel devices.Such scheme provides redundancy and may further accelerate the contentfetch. For example, in the case of partitioning into 2 slices, whereslice #1 may be fetched via the tunnel device #1 33 a in the ‘ContentFetch Tunnel #1’ step 65 a and in parallel slice #1 may also be fetchedvia the tunnel device #2 33 b in the ‘Content Fetch Tunnel #2’ step 65b, while slice #2 may be fetched via the tunnel device #3 33 c in the‘Content Fetch Tunnel #3’ step 65 c.

The system was exampled above where a device may be a client device(such as the client device #1 31 a) executing, for example, theflowchart 60, the flowchart 100, or the flowchart 100 a. Similarly, adevice may be a tunnel device (such as the tunnel device #1 33 a)executing, for example, the flowchart 70. It is appreciated that adevice may serve as both a client device and as a tunnel device,executing both a client device flowchart (such as the flowchart 100 a)and a tunnel device flowchart (such as the flowchart 70). The two rolesmay be performed sequentially, where one role is assumed at a time, ormay be used in parallel using multitasking or multiprocessing. Forexample, the client device #1 31 a may also serve as a tunnel device,referred to as Client/Tunnel device #1 a1 a as shown in system 120 inFIG. 12. For example, the table 40 shown in FIG. 5a shows in the fifthrow 42 e such a client/tunnel device after signing in. A system mayinclude client—only devices using tunnel-only devices. Alternatively orin addition, a part of, or all the devices in a system may beclient/tunnel devices, capable of assuming both roles of client andtunnel devices.

In one example shown as a messaging flow 120 a in FIG. 12a , theclient/tunnel #1 device 121 a is serving as a tunnel device (in additionto being the client device #1 31 a as described above) serving as anintermediary device for the client device #2 31 b for fetching contentfrom the data server #2 22 b. The ‘Content Request’ message 122 a(corresponding to the ‘Content Request’ message 56 g in the timing chart50) is first sent from the client device #2 31 b to the client/tunneldevice #1 121 a, which responds by forwarding the request to the dataserver #2 22 b using the ‘Content Request’ message 122 b (correspondingto the ‘Content Request’ message 56 h in the timing chart 50). In turnthe data server #2 22 b replies and sends the content in ‘Send Content’message 122 c (corresponding to the ‘Send Content’ message 56 i in thetiming chart 50) to the requesting client/tunnel device #1 121 a nowserving as a tunnel device, which in turn forward the fetched content tothe asking client device #2 31 b using the ‘Send Content’ message 122 d(corresponding to the ‘Send Content’ message 56 j in the timing chart50).

Any device referred to herein as a ‘tunnel device’, such as the tunneldevice #1 33 a, the tunnel device #2 33 b, or the tunnel device #3 33 c,may be implemented as a computer serving as a client device in theserver/client sense, and may execute client applications or software. Inparticular, such a tunnel device may execute a web browser application.Similarly, any tunnel device may be implemented as a computer serving asa server device in the server/client sense. Similarly, any devicereferred to herein as a ‘client device’, such as client device #1 31 a,client device #2 31 b, and client device #3 31 c, may be implemented asa computer serving as a client device in the server/client sense, andmay be executing client applications or software. In particular, such aclient device may execute a web browser application. Similarly, anyclient device may be implemented as a computer serving as a serverdevice in the server/client sense.

Further, the functionality of any device herein may be implemented usingmultiple physical devices. In one example shown as a system 130 in FIG.13, the client device #1 31 a functionality is implemented in as clientdevice #1 system 133, comprising a computer 132 (may be used for GUI oras a client), is communicating with a proxy server 131. The clientdevice #1 31 a functionality may be split between the computer 132 andthe proxy server 131.

In one example, the acceleration server 32 (together with the tunneldevices) forms a system that may be used to provide a service to aclient device. The service allows the client device (such as clientdevice #1 31 a) to quickly and anonymously fetch content from the dataserver #1 22 a. The service level may be measured, or the service may bebilled for, if applicable, for example, using the following parameters(individually or combined):

Content amount. In this example, the amount of data relating to thecontent fetched from a data server (such as the data server #1 22 a) ismeasured and logged. In such a scheme, the tunnel devices may send tothe acceleration server the amount of data flowing through from the dataserver to the client device. Alternatively or in addition, the clientdevice may log or send the amount of content fetched to the accelerationserver 32.

Number of tunnels. The number of tunnels that were available to a clientdevice, or the number of tunnel devices that were actually used, may beused as an indication to the service level.

Location. The service level may be measured or billed based the countrythe data server, from which the content is fetched, is located.Similarly, the service level may be measured or billed based the countrythe client device, to which the content is fetched, is located.

While the pre-connection process was described above regarding thecommunication between a client device (such as the client device #1 31a) and a tunnel device (such as the tunnel device #1 33 a), described asthe client device pre-connection flowchart 64 and the tunnel devicepre-connection flowchart 72, a pre-connection may be established betweenany two devices in the system 30, such as between a client device andthe acceleration server 32, between two client devices, or between aclient device and a data server (such as the data server #1 22 a).Similarly, a pre-connection may be established between a tunnel deviceand the acceleration server 32, between two tunnel devices, or between atunnel device and a data server (such as the data server #1 22 a).

The performance of the method and system described herein may be basedon the latency involved in fetching a required content. The flowchart 65in FIG. 6 describes the steps involved in fetching content from a tunneldevice, and a flowchart 140 in FIG. 14 provides further detailedoperation of a client device, such as the client device #1 31 a. The‘receive Content’ step 63 c may be partitioned into two or more steps,as shown in the flowchart 270 in FIG. 27, such as a ‘Receive Start’ step141 a, relating to the starting of receiving data from a tunnel device,upon starting or completing the reception of the first byte of the data,for example, and a ‘Receive End’ step 141 b, relating to the ending ofreceiving data from a tunnel device, for example upon starting orcompleting the reception of the end byte of the data.

As part of the ‘Send Content Request’ step 63 b, a timer #1 is startedin ‘Timer #1 Start’ step 142 a, and the timer #1 is stopped in a ‘Timer#1 Stop’ step 142 b at the beginning of the receiving the data from thetunnel device in the ‘Receive Start’ step 141 a. Hence, the timer #1 isused to measure the Round Trip Time (RTT), relating to the time intervalmeasured from sending the request to a tunnel device until the requesteddata is starting to be received. Similarly, as part of the ‘ReceiveStart’ step 143 a a timer #2 is started, and the timer #2 is stopped ina ‘Timer #2 Stop’ step 143 b at the end of the receiving the data fromthe tunnel device in a ‘Receive End’ step 141 b. Hence, the timer #2 isused to measure the time interval required to receive the content itselffrom the tunnel. For example, in case the time interval is 50milliseconds (ms), this is the time interval measured from starting toending of the data reception from the tunnel device. In the case thecontent size is X bits, the BW can be calculated as the X bits dividedby the timer #2 measured time interval. For example, in the case thereceived content from the tunnel device is about the size of 50,000 bits(50 Kbits) received during 100 milliseconds (ms), the effective (oraverage) BW is BW=50,000/0.1=500,000 bits/second=500 Kb/s=62.5Kbytes/s=62.5 KB/s. The total latency affecting the performance is thecombination of both the time interval measured by timer #1 and the timeinterval measured by timer #2. Using the above examples where the timer#1 measured an RTT of 50 ms and the timer #2 measured 100 ms, the totallatency, measured from sending the request to the tunnel in the ‘SendContent Request’ step 63 b to the end of the content reception in the‘Receive End’ step 141 b, is 150 ms (50+100=150).

After a transaction involving fetching a content from a tunnel iscompleted, it is beneficial to store the fetched content for future use,as shown in a ‘Store Content’ step 145 in the flowchart 140. The fetchedcontent may be stored in the client device in any volatile ornon-volatile memory, or may be stored in a local cache as described inU.S. Pat. No. 8,135,912 to the same inventors as this application,entitled: “System and Method of Increasing Cache Size”, which isincorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein. The content is stored with its related metadata or any otheridentifiers, so it can be easily detected and fetched when laterrequired. For example, the stored content may be used when the samecontent is required at any later stage by the same client, or may beused when the client device also serves as a peer device, such as thepeer device #1 102 a as shown in system 260. In the latter case, thefetched content (such as a URL content) may be arranged and stored aschunks, as described herein.

After a transaction involving fetching a content from a tunnel iscompleted, it is beneficial to store the transaction related informationfor future use, such as for future analysis. An example of a tablerelating to transactions log, that may be part of a database, is shownas table 150 in FIG. 15. The table is updated in the ‘UpdateTransactions Log’ step 144 as part of the flowchart 140 shown in FIG.14. A top row 152 provides the titles of the various columns, where eachof the rows provides information regarding a specific transaction, wherea first transaction information is shown in a first row 152 a, thesecond transaction information is shown in a second row 152 b, the thirdtransaction information is shown in a third row 152 c, and so forth. Thefirst column 151 a shows the date and time (in DD/MM HH/MM format) whenthe transaction occurred, such as the start or end of the transaction.For example, the first transaction related information is in the firstrow 152 a shows that the transaction was completed (or started) at March13^(th), on 9:23. Similarly, the second transaction information is inthe second row 152 b shows that the transaction was completed (orstarted) on March 13^(th), at 9:46, and the third transactioninformation is in the third row 152 b shows that the transaction wascompleted (or started) at April 16^(th), on 11:22. The second column 151b includes an identifier such as the IP address of the tunnel devicethat was used in the transaction to fetch the content from the dataserver, which identifier (such as its IP address) is included in thethird column 151 c. In the example of the first transaction shown in thefirst row 152 a, the IP address of the tunnel device used is229.155.81.168, and it was used to fetch content stored in a data serverhaving an IP address of 128.164.35.35.142. Similarly, in the example ofthe second transaction shown in the second row 152 b, the IP address ofthe tunnel device used is 248.107.109.10, and it was used to fetchcontent stored in a data server having an IP address of 49.154.2.5, andin the example of the third transaction shown in the third row 152 c,the IP address of the tunnel device used is 158.217.19.195, and it wasused to fetch content stored in a data server having an IP address of72.251.238.51. The fourth column 151 d describes the identifier of thecontent that was fetched during this transaction, such as IP address,URL, web-site or web-page, where the first transaction content (in thefirst row 152 a) relates to the URL www.111.com/22.mpg, the secondtransaction content (in the second row 152 b) relates to the URLwww.xxx.com/hy.avi, the third transaction content (in the third row 152c) relates to the URL www.yyy.com/t6.php, and so forth.

A fifth column 151 e logs the BW calculated in a respective transaction,based on timer #2 time interval measurement as described above. In thefirst transaction (in the first row 152 a) the calculated BW is loggedas 1000 Kb/s (=1 Mb/s=125 KB/s), in the second transaction (in thesecond row 152 b) the calculated BW is logged as 350 Kb/s (=0.35 Mb/s),and in the third transaction (in the third row 152 c) the calculated BWis logged as 2500 Kb/s (=2.5 Mb/s). A sixth column 151 f logs the RTTmeasured in the transaction, based on timer #1 time interval measurementas described above. In the first transaction (in the first row 152 a)the measured RTT is logged as 30 ms (=0.03 seconds=0.03 s), in thesecond transaction (in the second row 152 b) the measured RTT is loggedas 70 ms, and in the third transaction (in the third row 152 c) themeasured RTT is logged as 540 ms (=0.54 second).

The transaction log, such as table 150, may be prepared by a clientdevice, such as client device #1 31 a, and stored in the client devicefor future use. Alternatively or in addition, the transaction log may besent, after each transaction or after multiple transactions, such as pera time period (e.g., hourly, daily, weekly, monthly), to other entitiesin the system, to be stored in the entities for future use by them or byother entities in the network. In one example, the transaction log issent to the acceleration server 32. Alternatively or in addition, thetransactions log may be sent to the tunnel devices, such as the tunneldevice #1 33 a, the tunnel device #2 33 b, or the tunnel device #3 33 c,that were involved in the content fetching transaction.

Similar to table 150 shown in FIG. 15, a table 150 a shown in FIG. 15ashows a table relating to four tunnel devices used for fetchingdifferent content from the same data server (such as the data server #122 a), thus the same server IP address is shown in the third column 153c. The IP addresses the tunnel devices are shown in the second column153 b, the URL fetched is shown in the fourth column 153 d, the date andtime of the transaction are logged in the first column 153 a, the BW isshown in the fifth column 153 e, and the measured RTT is shown in thesixth column 153 f. The first transaction (logged in a first row 154 a)is using a first tunnel device having IP address of 139.230.154.213, thesecond transaction (logged in a second row 154 b) is using a secondtunnel device having IP address of 132.171.60.197, the third transaction(logged in a third row 154 c) is using a third tunnel device having IPaddress of 248.46.80.36, and the fourth transaction (logged in a fourthrow 154 d) is using a fourth tunnel device having IP address of31.16.208.171.

The tunnel devices to be used when content is to be fetched from a dataserver (such as the data server 22 a) may be selected by a client device(such as the client device #1 31 a) in the ‘Select Tunnel’ step 62 c inthe flowchart 60, or in the ‘Select Tunnels’ step 101 b in the flowchart100. Alternatively or in addition, the tunnel devices may be selected bythe acceleration server 32, as part of the ‘Select Tunnels’ step 101 ain the flowchart 90. The selection may be based on a past performance ofthe tunnel devices, such as information relating to former transactionsinvolving these tunnel devices. In one example, the transactions log maybe used to evaluate and select which tunnel devices to use in a specifictransaction to be executed, or in multiple transactions.

In the example of the transaction log table 150 a shown in FIG. 15a andrelating to a client device, the client device may need to fetch contentfrom the same data server shown in the table 150 a (having an IP addressof 49.154.2.5), and thus may use the table content as an indication ofthe performance of the various tunnel devices. In one example, thecriterion to select a single tunnel device to be used for fetchingcontent from the data server may be based on having higher BW, assumingthat the higher BW has not changed and thus will result in fastercontent fetching, and hence the tunnel device used in the third loggedtransaction (having an IP address of 248.46.80.36) will be selected forthis transaction, having the highest recorded BW of 2500 Kb/s. In thecase two tunnel devices are to be selected, the second tunnel device tobe selected is the tunnel device used in the fourth logged transaction(having an IP address of 31.16.208.171) will be selected for thistransaction, being associated with the second highest BW in the table.Similarly, the tunnel device associated with the first loggedtransaction will be the next to be selected.

Alternatively or in addition, the criterion to select a single tunnel tobe used for fetching content from the data server may be based on havinglower RTT, assuming that the lower RTT has not changed and thus willresult in faster content fetching, and hence the tunnel device used inthe first logged transaction (having an IP address of 139.230.154.213)will be selected for this transaction, having the lowest recorded RTT of30 ms. In the case two tunnel devices are to be selected, the secondtunnel device to be selected is the tunnel device used in the secondlogged transaction (having an IP address of 132.171.60.197) will beselected for this transaction, being associated with the second lowestRTT in the table (70 ms). Similarly, the tunnel device associated withthe fourth logged transaction will be the next to be selected.

Alternatively or in addition, both the RTT and the BW are used ascriteria for selecting tunnel devices. In one example, the expectedtotal latency is calculated, based on both the former BW and the formerRTT, and the tunnel device offering the lowest estimated total latencywill be selected. In one example, assuming the content to be fetched isestimated (or known to be) having the size of 100 Kb (100 kilobits). Thetunnel device used in the first logged transaction (in the first row 154a) is associated with past performance (with the same data server) ofBW=1000 Kb/s and RTT=30 ms. In such a case, the total latency iscalculated and estimated as 30+100/1000=130 ms. The tunnel device usedin the second logged transaction (in the second row 154 b) is associatedwith past performance (with the same data server) of BW=350 Kb/s andRTT=70 ms, and thus the total latency is calculated and estimated as70+100/350=355.7 ms. Similarly, the estimated total latency of using thetunnel device used in the third logged transaction (in the third row 154c) is 580 ms, and the estimated total latency of using the tunnel deviceused in the fourth logged transaction (in the fourth row 154 d) is 241.4ms. Having the lowest estimated total latency, the tunnel device used inthe first logged transaction (in the first row 154 a) will be selectedfirst as having the lowest expected total latency, the tunnel deviceused in the fourth logged transaction (in the fourth row 154 d) will beselected second, the tunnel device used in the second logged transaction(in the second row 154 b) will be selected third, and the tunnel deviceused in the third logged transaction (in the third row 154 c) will beselected last.

However, assuming the content to be fetched is estimated (or known tobe) having the size of 1000 Kb (1000 kilobits=1 Mb). The tunnel deviceused in the first logged transaction (in the first row 154 a) isassociated with past performance (with the same data server) of BW=1000Kb/s and RTT=30 ms. In such a case, the total latency is calculated andestimated as 30+1000/1000=1030 ms (1.03 s). The tunnel device used inthe second logged transaction (in the second row 154 b) is associatedwith past performance (with the same data server) of BW=350 Kb/s andRTT=70 ms, and thus the total latency is calculated and estimated as70+1000/350=2927.1 ms. Similarly, the estimated total latency of usingthe tunnel device used in the third logged transaction (in the third row154 c) is 940 ms, and the estimated total latency of using the tunneldevice used in the fourth logged transaction (in the fourth row 154 d)is 884.2 ms. Having the lowest estimated total latency, the tunneldevice used in the fourth logged transaction (in the fourth row 154 d)will be selected first as having the lowest expected total latency, thetunnel device used in the third logged transaction (in the third row 154c) will be selected second, the tunnel device used in the first loggedtransaction (in the first row 154 a) will be selected third, and thetunnel device used in the second logged transaction (in the second row154 b) will be selected last.

The flowchart 74 in FIG. 7a describes a method to be executed by atunnel device, such as the tunnel device #1 33 a (or any other networkelement), for independently increasing the number of connections to adata server (such as the data server #1 22 a), in order to allow fasterfetching of content from the data server. Alternatively or in addition,the client device may manage the number of connections used per tunneldevice, as described in a flowchart 160 shown in FIG. 16, whichdescribes a method that may be executed by a client device, such as theclient device #1 31 a (or any other network), in element order to setmore connection to the data server. The maximum number of connectionsavailable to the data server is determined in a ‘Determine MaximumConnections Number’ step 161 a. This maximum value may be obtained fromprevious interactions with this data server, received from a tunneldevice in a ‘Notify Client’ step 74 c in the flowchart 74, or using aknown default number. The actual number of connections that are in useat a specific time is determined in a ‘Determine Number of ConnectionsUsed’ step 161 b. The actual connections used for each tunnel device maybe obtained, for example, from the tunnel devices. In one example, moreconnection may be used, as checked in a ‘More Connections Available?’step 161 c. For example, the data server may provide up to 8 connectionsper tunnel device, while one of tunnel devices only uses 5 connections.In such a case, the client device may send a request to this tunneldevice to increase the number of connections, for example by adding asingle connection, as part of a ‘Request More Connections’ step 161 d.In the case where the request for adding one or more connections issuccessful, as checked in a ‘Rejected?’ step 161 e, the device mayrepeat the request for additional connections. However, in one example,no additional connections may be opened, since the tunnel device hasreached the maximum number of allowable connections with the dataserver. If no additional connections are to be opened, the client devicemay increase the effective bandwidth of content fetching from the dataserver by requesting the usage of more tunnel devices from anacceleration server (such as the acceleration server 32) as part of a‘Request More Tunnels’ step 161 f, corresponding to the ‘Request TunnelsList’ step 62 a in the flowchart 60, followed by activating selectedtunnel devices from the received tunnel devices list received from theacceleration server 32, as part of an ‘Activate More Tunnels’ step 161g, corresponding to the ‘Content Fetch’ flowchart 65. The client devicemay further repeat the process for maximizing the number of connectionsfor the newly activated tunnel devices.

Web analysis is used by many web sites in order to measure the usagestatistics, such as counting of web pages views, checking an averagetime between various web pages, and other usage statistics (‘usagestats’). In many cases, the web analysis is based on embedding a code inthe web-browser, which sends an update or request to an analyticsserver, such as Google Analytics Server, which is used to measure andlog the required web analysis. A flowchart 170 shown in FIG. 17describes the scheme of interacting with the analytics server. Anapplication, such as a web browser, may identify a content (such as by aURL) to be fetched via the Internet in a ‘URL Identified’ step 171 a.Alternatively or in addition, the content may be identified by the IP ofthe data server, or using any other identification. Before accessing theURL-associated data server for fetching the required content, theapplication first sends information to the analytics server for loggingand gathering statistics, in an ‘Update Analytics Server’ step 171 b.The applications then waits until the update is completed, asacknowledged by receiving the analytics server response in an ‘AnalyticsServer Response’ step 171 c. Only upon receiving the analytics serverresponse, the application requests the content from the respective dataserver in a ‘Request to Data Server’ step 171 d. The access to theanalytics server, as described in the ‘Update Analytics Server’ step 171b and waiting for the server to respond in the ‘Analytics ServerResponse’ step 171 c, consumes time and resources, and makes the processof fetching the required content slower.

Each of the analytic servers that are commonly used typically uses aunified response to an update request in the ‘Analytics Server Response’step 171 c. In one example, a database is built, including typicalresponses of analytic servers. Such information regarding typicalresponses may be obtained from previous interactions with analyticservers, either by the device executing the requesting application, orfrom other network elements.

The database containing the typical responses may be used to acceleratethe flow of the requesting application, as described in a flowchart 170a shown in FIG. 17a , which corresponds to a flowchart 170 shown in FIG.17. The Upon detecting a communication request targeting the analyticsserver as part of the ‘Update Analytics Server’ step 171 b, the requestis intercepted in an ‘Intercept Update’ step 172 b. Such interceptionmay be in the form of a filter driver (or any other intermediatedriver), enabling the interception as part of the OS kernel.Alternatively or in addition, the interception may be in the form of anextension or a plug-in of the requesting application, such as a browserplug-in or a browser extension in the case where the application is aweb browser. Alternatively or in addition, the interception of therequest may use hooking of the requesting application or of thecommunication-related application. Alternatively or in addition, theapplication and the steps described herein may communicate using anInter-Process Communication (IPC), such as a file sharing, a signal, asocket, a pipe, a message queue, a shared memory, a semaphore, or memorymapped file. In Windows environment, the IPC may be based on aclipboard, a Component Object Model (COM), a data copy, a DDE protocol,or mailslots.

The typical response database is used as a look-up table, associating tothe update request intercepted a simulated artificial typical response,that is expected to be the same or similar to the response expected fromthe analytics server, as part of an ‘Obtain Typical Response’ step 172b. The artificial response is then returned to the requestingapplication, in a ‘Return Typical Response’ step 172 c, so therequesting application may continue its operation in the ‘Request toData Server’ step 171 d, without the need to wait first for the actualresponse from the analytics server as part of the ‘Analytics ServerResponse’ step 171 c. In such a scheme, the latency involved withwaiting to the analytics server response is obviated.

The actual response received from the analytics server as part of the‘Analytics Server Response’ step 171 c may be ignored in general, and inparticular by the requesting application, as it was substituted by thesimulated response in the ‘Return Typical Response’ step 172 c.Alternatively or in addition, the response is stored as part of thetypical response database, to be used for forming simulated responses infuture interactions with the same analytics server. Further, in order tosave resources such as bandwidth and processing power, the updaterequest to the analytics server may not be actually transmitted, andreplaced only with the simulated response. Alternatively or in addition,such update request may be stored and transmitted at a later stage, forexample, when the network element is idle.

The elements involved in a DHCP process are illustrated in a system 180shown in FIG. 18. A device 181 (which may be any network element) mayconnect to a DHCP server #1 182 a via a LAN 183, or may use a DHCPserver #2 182 b connected via a WAN 184. Typically, a DHCP process iscompleted in less than 5 milliseconds (ms) when communicating over theLAN 183, such as LAN 183, and is completed in less than 20 ms whencommunicating with the DHCP server #2 182 b over the WAN 184. The DHCPprocess performed by the device 181 is described as a flowchart 180 a inFIG. 18a . Upon sending to the DHCP server (such as DHCP server #1 182 aor DHCP server #2 182 b) a DHCP request in a ‘Send DHCP Request’ step185 a, the device 181 starts a timer #1 in a ‘Start Timer #1) step 185b. Commonly, such a countdown timer is set to 5 seconds, notifying atimeout period after the 5 seconds expire. In a ‘Response Received?’step 185 c, it is checked if a response was received, and the DHCP hasbeen completed, so that the device may continue other activities, aspart of a ‘Return Response’ step 185 d. The device 181 checkscontinuously and waits for a response from a DHCP server for completingthe DHCP process as long as the timer #1 has not expired in a ‘Timer #1Expired?’ step 185 e. In the case where the timer #1 has expired, and noconnection was made with the DHCP server or the DHCP has not beencompleted, then a failure of the DHCP process is declared in a “Return‘No Response’” step 185 f.

While the common DHCP resolving period is under 5 ms in a LANenvironment, and under 20 ms in a WAN environment, the timer #1 typicalsetting is of 5 seconds (or any other number of seconds), which is manyorders of magnitude longer than required. Further, in some case a shortor an intermittent communication problem, may cause a transiently dropof a packet, causing the DHCP process to fail and not be completed. Suchfailure will be detected only after the full 5 seconds has been expired,leading to a long delay in responding to, and fixing the problem (e.g,by repeating the DHCP process).

An improved DHCP timing scheme is shown as a flowchart 190 in FIG. 19,which may be executed by the device 181, and is based on the flowchart180 a in FIG. 18a . In addition to the prior-art timer #1 that iscommonly set for a few seconds, an additional timer #2 is added, whichis set to a much lower period, such as 100 or 200 ms, which allows forfaster reconnection in case of a failure. The timer #2 starts with a‘Start Timer #2’ step 191 a. In the case the timer #2 expires before asuccessful DHCP process is completed, as checked in a ‘Timer #2Expired?’ step 191 b, and as long as the timer #1 has not expired, thetimer #2 is restarted in the ‘Start Timer #2’ step 191 a, and the DHCPprocess is re-initialized in the ‘Send DHCP Request’ step 185 a. Hence,in the case of a brief communication problem, the DHCP processinitialization will be repeated, and as such will be recovered andcompleted in one of the cycles. In the case of a dysfunctional DHCPserver, the problem will still be determined after timer #1 expiration,as in the prior-art scheme.

In one example, accessing a data server is improved by using anintermediate device referred to as ‘peer’ and ‘agent’ devices,respectfully executing a ‘peer’ and ‘agent’ flowchart. FIG. 20 shows asystem 200 including a client device 201 a, which may be the same deviceas the client device #1 31 a described above or a distinct device, thatmay access the data servers 22 a and 22 b using one or more of the peerdevice #1 102 a, the peer device #2 102 b, and the peer device #3 102 c,under the management and control of the acceleration server 202, andusing agent devices such as the agent device #1 103 a and the agentdevice #2 103 b. The acceleration server 202 may be the same server asthe acceleration server 32 in the system 30 described above, or may be adistinct or a dedicated server. Similarly, a data server, such as thedata server #1 22 a or data server #2 22 b, may be the same as the sameservers described above in system 30, or may be distinct or dedicatedservers. While two agent devices are shown, any number of agent devicesmay be used. Similarly, while three peer devices are shown, any numberof peer devices may be used.

The content stored in a data server, such as the data server #1 22 a,which may be requested by a client device such as the client device #1201 a, may be partitioned into multiple parts or ‘slices’. Any number ofslices may be used. The slicing may be in a bit, nibble (4-bits), byte(8-bits), word (multiple bytes), character, string, or file level. Forexample, in a case wherein the content includes 240 bytes designatedbyte #1 to byte #240, using a byte level partitioning into two slicesresults in a first slice (slice #1) including byte #1 to byte #120, anda second slice (slice #2) including byte #121 to byte #240. In the caseof byte-level partitioning into three slices (referred as slice #1,slice #2, and slice #3), a first slice (slice #1) may be including byte#1 to byte #80, a second slice (slice #2) may be including byte #81 tobyte #160, and a third slice (slice #3) may be including byte #161 tobyte #240. Similarly, in a case wherein the content include 3 bytesdesignated byte #1 to byte #3 representing 24 bits, using a bit-levelpartitioning into four slices results in a slice #1 including the first6 bits, slice #2 including the next 6 bits, slice #3 including the next6 bits, and slice #4 including the last 6 bits. The partition may beinto equal length parts. Alternatively or in addition, a differentlength slicing may be applied. For example, in the case of a 240 bytescontent and using byte-level partitioning into three slices (referred asslice #1, slice #2, and slice #3), a first slice (slice #1) may beincluding byte #1 to byte #20 (20-byte length), a second slice (slice#2) may be including byte #21 to byte #100 (80-byte length), and a thirdslice (slice #3) may be including byte #101 to byte #240 (140-bytelength). In one example, the content itself is made of inherent oridentifiable parts or segments, and the partition may make use of theseparts. In one example, the content may be a website content composed ofmultiple webpages, and thus the partition may be such that each sliceincludes one (or few) webpages. Further, the partitioning may besequential or non-sequential in the content.

The partitioning may be non-overlapping, wherein each slice includes adistinct part of the content, as exampled above in the case wherein thecontent includes 240 bytes designated byte #1 to byte #240, where usinga byte level partitioning into three slices (referred as slice #1, slice#2, and slice #3), results in a first slice (slice #1) including byte #1to byte #80, a second slice (slice #2) including byte #81 to byte #160,and a third slice (slice #3) including byte #161 to byte #240.Alternatively or in addition, an overlapping partitioning may beapplied, where the same part of the content is included in multipleslices. For example, in a case above where the content includes 240bytes designated byte #1 to byte #240, and using a byte levelpartitioning into three slices (referred as slice #1, slice #2, andslice #3), a first slice (slice #1) may include byte #1 to byte #160, asecond slice (slice #2) may include byte #81 to byte #240, and a thirdslice (slice #3) may include byte #1 to byte #80 in addition to byte#161 to byte #240. In such a case, byte #1 to byte #80 are part of bothslice #1 and slice #3, byte #81 to byte #160 are part of both slice #1and slice #2, and byte #161 to byte #240 are part of both slice #2 andslice #3. It is noted that in such a partition, the content may be fullyreconstructed from any two of the slices, hence providing a degree ofredundancy. For example, in case of carrying the three slices over theInternet and a failure to receive one of the slices, the remaining twoslices may be used to fully reconstruct the whole content.

In one example, the content is a website or a webpage, or may beidentified as a URL, and consists of, or comprises, non-overlapping andequally-sized parts, referred to as chunks. For example, multiple chunksmay be combined to reconstruct the original content, such as website orcontent. A chunk size may be 16 KB (Kilo-Bytes), and in the case thecontent to be partitioned is not an exact multiple of 16 KB, the ‘last’chunk will padded and filled with ‘space’ characters (or any other nocontent data).

For example, multiple chunks may be combined to reconstruct the originalcontent, such as website or content, as schematically shown in anarrangement 210 shown in FIG. 21. The data servers may include contentaddressed by various IP addresses or URLs, such as URL #1 211 a, URL #2211 b, URL #3 211 c, and URL #N 211 d. While exampled using URLs, anyother type of content may equally apply. Each URL may be associated withthe URL associated HTTP headers. A content of the URL #1 211 a consistsof multiple chunks stack 214 a consisting of m chunks, designated chunk#1 a 212 a, chunk #1 b 212 b, chunk #1 c 212 c, up to chunk #1 m 212 d.Similarly, a content of the URL #2 211 b consists of multiple chunksstack 214 b consisting of n chunks (n=m or n≠m), designated chunk #2 a212 e, chunk #2 b 212 f, chunk #2 c 212 g, up to chunk #2 n 212 h, and acontent of the URL #N 211 d consists of multiple chunks stack 214 cconsisting of n chunks (p=m, p=n, p≠n or p≠m), designated chunk #3 a 212i, chunk #3 b 212 j, chunk #3 c 212 k, up to chunk #3 p 212 l.Similarly, the URL #3 211 c may be partitioned into chunks (not shown).

Each of the content in the chunks is identified by a chunk identifier,where each chunk identifier is associated with one, and only one, chunk.In one example, preferably used in sequential partitioning scheme, achunk is identified by the identifier of the content and the location ofthe chunk in the sequence of the partitioning. For example, a chunk maybe identified by the content (e.g., URL, web-site, or web-page), and anumber such as the number ‘23’, meaning that this chunk is the 23^(rd)slice in sequential partitioning of the content. Alternatively or inaddition, the CRC of the content of the chunk is calculated, and used asthe chunk identifier. For example, CRC-32 may be used, allowing eachchunk (such as 16 KB size) to be identified by 33-bit identifier.Alternatively or in addition, a chunk identifier is based on a hashfunction of the chunk content.

A peer device may include a part of, or the entire stack of a singleURL. Alternatively or in addition, a peer device may include a part of,or the entire stack of multiple URLs. In one example, a peer device maystore all of the chunks included in a URL (or any other content). Asshown in the arrangement 210, the peer device #1 213 a stores the stack214 a of the entire chunks relating to the single URL #1 211 a, the peerdevice #2 213 b stores the stacks of 2 URLs: The stack 214 a of the URL#1 211 a and the stack 214 b of the URL #2 211 b. Similarly, the peerdevice #3 213 c stores the stacks of 3 URLs: The stack 214 a of the URL#1 211 a, the stack 214 b of the URL #2 211 b, and the stack 214 c ofthe URL #N 211 d. Similar to peer device #1 213 a, the peer device #d213 q stores the stack 214 c of the entire chunks relating to the singleURL #N 211 d. The agent devices serve as pointers to the peer devices,based on the requested content. As shown in an arrangement 210 a in FIG.21a , an agent device #1 215 a stores information regarding the locationof content relating to URL #1 211 a, and thus stores the identifiers ofthe peer device #1 213 a, the peer device #2 213 b, and the peer device#3 213 c, since all these peer devices store the content of URL #1 211a. An agent device #2 215 b stores information regarding the location ofcontent relating to URL #2 211 b, and thus stores the identifiers of thepeer device #2 213 b and the peer device #3 213 c, since these peerdevices store the content of URL #2 211 b. Similarly, an agent device #N215 d stores information regarding the location of content relating toURL #N 211 d, and thus stores the identifiers of the peer device #q 213d and the peer device #3 213 c, since these peer devices store thecontent of URL #N 211 d. While exampled where each agent device storesinformation about a single URL, an agent device may equally storeinformation regarding the location of multiple URLs.

A peer device, such as the peer device #1 102 a, the peer device #2 102b, and the peer device #3 102 c, may store one or more chunks (or anypart of the entire content), as a copy of the chunk content as part ofthe whole content, stored as in a data server. The availability of suchcontent or chunks may be the result of a past loading of the content inthe chunk from the appropriate data server. Each of the chunk content isstored in a memory of the associated peer device, and the memory may bereferred to herein as a cache memory. As shown in scheme 210 b in FIG.21b , the peer device #1 213 a (corresponding for example to the peerdevice #1 102 a) stores in its cache memory the chunk #1 a 212 a, thechunk #1 b 212 b, the chunk #2 a 212 e, and the chunk #2 c 212 g.Similarly, the peer device #2 213 b (corresponding for example to thepeer device #2 102 b) stores in its cache memory the chunk #1 b 212 b,the chunk #1 m 212 d, the chunk #2 b 212 f, and the chunk #3 a 212 i;the peer device #3 213 c (corresponding for example to the peer device#3 102 c) stores in its cache memory the chunk #2 b 212 f, the chunk #2c 212 g, and the chunk #2 n 212 h; and the peer device #q 213 d storesin its cache memory the chunk #1 m 212 d, the chunk #2 n 212 h, thechunk #3 b 212 j, and the chunk #3 p 212 l. A chunk may not beassociated with any peer device, such as the chunk #3 c 212 k, which isshown in scheme 210 as not being stored in any of the peer devices.Alternatively or in addition, a chunk may be stored in multiple peerdevices, such as the chunk #1 b 212 b which is shown to be stored inboth the peer device #1 213 a and the peer device #2 213 b. Further, apeer device may store chunks which are part of multiple URLs, such aspeer #q 213 d shown to store the chunk #1 m 212 d which is part of URL#1 211 a, the chunk #2 n 212 h which is part of URL #2 211 b, and thechunk #3 b 212 j which is part of URL #N 211 d.

An agent device, such as the agent device #1 103 a or the agent device#2 103 b, may include a list of peers, for example peers that storechunks relating to, or retrieve from, the same data server or URL. Inthe example shown as a scheme 210 c in FIG. 21c , the agent device #1215 a (corresponding for example to the agent device #1 103 a) stores alist of chunks location of URL #1 211 a, including the peer device #1213 a (storing Chunk #1 a 212 a and Chunk #1 b 212 b), the peer #2 213 b(storing Chunk #1 b 212 b and Chunk #1 m 212 d), and the peer #3 213 c(storing Chunk #1 m 212 d). Similarly, the agent device #2 215 b(corresponding for example to the agent device #2 103 b) stores a listof chunks location of URL #2 211 b, including the peer device #1 213 a(storing Chunk #2 b 212 f and Chunk #2 c 212 g), the peer device #2 213b (storing Chunk #2 b 212 f), the peer device #3 213 c (storing Chunk #2b 212 f, Chunk #2 c 212 g, and Chunk #2 n 212 h), and the peer device #q213 d (storing Chunk #2 n 212 h); and the agent devices #r 215 c andAgent #N 215 d, both storing a list of chunks location of URL #N 211 d,both stores a list including the peer #2 213 b (storing Chunk #3 a 212i) and the peer device #q 213 d (storing Chunk #3 b 212 j and Chunk #3 p212 l). An agent may store an empty list having no peers. Further, apeer may not be stored in any agent. The peer and agent devices may beidentified by their respective IP address, or by any other mechanismallowing addressing over the Internet.

In one example, accessing a data server may be obviated by accessingcopies of the data server content stored as chunks in ‘peer’ devices,each executing a ‘peer’ flowchart. The peer devices for a content (suchas a URL, web-page, web-site, or IP address) are identified by ‘agent’devices, each executing an ‘agent’ flowchart.

The method of retrieving chunks from peer devices is described below,based on the database 250 a shown in FIG. 25 describing the list storedin the acceleration server 202, a flowcharts 230, 230 a, and 230 brespectively shown in FIGS. 23, 23 a, and 23 b describing a clientdevice (such as the client device #1 201 a) operation, a flow chart 240shown in FIG. 24 describing an agent device (such as the agent device #1103 a) operation, a flow chart 240 a shown in FIG. 24a describing a peerdevice (such as the peer device #1 102 a) operation, and a messaging andstates timing chart 220 shown in FIG. 20. The chart 220 shows themessaging and related timing associated with the operation of theacceleration server 202 (corresponding to a dashed line 221 a), a clientdevice such as the client device #1 201 a (corresponding to a dashedline 221 b), an agent device such as the agent device #1 103 a(corresponding to a dashed line 221 c), and a peer device such as thepeer device #1 102 a (corresponding to a dashed line 221 d). Theflowchart 230 a comprises a flowchart 239 relating to the chunksretrieving from peer devices. The database 250 a shown in FIG. 25a isillustrated as a table, wherein a first column 252 a (designated as‘TYPE’) relates to a device functionality, such as a agent, peer, orclient, a second column 252 b (designated as ‘IP ADDRESS’) relates tothe device IP address, a third column 252 c (designated as ‘SIGN-INDATE/TIME’) relates to the date (in DD/MM format) and the time (inHH:MM—Hour:Minute format) when the device signed in with theacceleration server, and a fourth column 252 d, relating to the physicalgeographical location of the device. The top row 253 in the table refersto the field designations. The first 253 a, second 253 b, third 253 c,fourth 253 d, and fifth 253 e rows in the table 250 a respectivelyrelate to first, second, third, fourth, and fifth devices that signed inwith the acceleration server 202. For example, the device shown in thefirst row 253 a has signed in as an agent device as shown in the firstcolumn 252 a, on March 24^(th) at 8:35 as shown in the third column 252c, and can be addressed over the Internet using the IP address 73.0.82.8as shown in the second column 252 b. Similarly, the device shown in thethird row 253 c has signed in as a peer device as shown in the column252 a, on March 28^(th) at 11:49 as shown in the third column 252 c, andcan be addressed over the Internet using the IP address 111.13.69.78 asshown in the second column 252 b.

As shown in the messaging and timing chart 220, the process starts uponinitializing an agent application in an agent device, schematicallyshown as a ‘START’ step 224 a in the chart 220, corresponding to thestate 241 a ‘START’ in chart 240. Such initialization may be executedupon the device powering up process, or upon a user request. Then theagent device #1 103 a (as an example of an agent device) signs in withthe acceleration server 202 in the ‘Sign-in as Agent’ step 241 b, whichcorresponds to a message ‘Sign In’ 226 a in the chart 220. The messagecomprises the device functionality as ‘agent’, and the agent device 103a identification on the Internet 113, such as its IP address (forexample 73.0.82.8). The acceleration server 202 is in an ‘IDLE’ step 251a, until the message ‘Sign In’ 226 a is received at the accelerationserver 202 at a ‘Sign-In Request’ step 251 b, which initiate an updateof the database of the signed-in devices in a state ‘Update Table’ 251 c(corresponding to an ‘Update List’ state 222 a in the chart 220), asshown, for example, in the first row 253 a in table 250 a. Theacceleration server 202 further logs into the database the date and timeof the signing in, such as 24/3 as a date and 8:35 as the time, as shownin the first column 252 a of the table 250 a. The acceleration server202 further adds rows to the table per each agent device, in the case ofmultiple agent devices, such as the addition of the agent device #2 103b, that its signing-in details are shown in the second row 253 b, asaddressed by IP address 68.78.78.3 and having signed in at 25/3 at10:59.

Similarly, the peer device #1 102 a starts and sign in with theacceleration server 202. The process starts upon initializing a peerapplication in a peer device, schematically shown as a ‘START’ step 225a in the chart 220, corresponding to the state ‘Start’ 242 a in chart240 a, followed by the ‘Sign In’ message (shown as dashed-line) 226 b inthe chart 220, corresponding to the ‘Sign-in As Peer’ step 242 b in theflowchart 240 a. The acceleration server 202 adds the agent device #2103 b and the signing-in details to the table 250 a in the ‘UpdateTable’ step 251, as shown in the third row 253 c, as addressed by IPaddress 111.13.69.78 and having signed in at 28/3 on 11:49. Suchinitialization may be executed upon the device powering up process, orupon a user request. Alternatively or in addition, the peer device #1102 a may sign-in with the associated agent device, such as the agentdevice #1 103 a, shown as a ‘Sign In’ message (shown as dashed-line) 226c in the chart 220. In the latter case, the agent device #1 103 aupdates its list of peer devices by adding the newly signed-in peerdevice #1 102 a, as shown in an ‘Update List’ state 224 b in the chart220.

Similarly, the client device #1 201 a starts and sign in with theacceleration server 202. The process starts upon initializing a clientapplication in a client device, schematically shown as a ‘START’ step231 a in the flowchart 230, corresponding to a state 223 a ‘Start’ inthe chart 220. Such initialization may be executed upon the devicepowering up process, or upon a user request. Then the client device #1201 a sign in with the acceleration server 202 in the ‘Sign-in asClient’ step 231 b, which corresponds to the message ‘Sign In’ 226 d inthe chart 220. The message comprises the device functionality as‘client’, and the client device #1 201 a identification on the Internet113, such as its IP address (for example 125.90.25.92). The message‘Sign In’ is received as the acceleration server 202, which update thedatabase of the signed-in devices in state ‘Update Table’ 251 c(corresponding to a state ‘Update List’ 222 b in the chart 220), asshown in the fourth row 253 d in table 250 a. The acceleration server202 further logs to the database the date and time of the signing in,such as 29/3 as a date and 14:23 as the sign-in time, as shown in thefourth column 253 d of the table 250 a. The acceleration server 202further add to the table rows per each client device, in the case ofmultiple client devices. In one example, a device may be assigned tohave multiple roles, such as functioning as both a client and an agent,as both an agent and a peer, as both a client and a peer, or as anagent, a client, and a peer. Multiple roles may be implemented atdifferent times, or simultaneously using multiprocessing ormultitasking. For example, a device may sign-in as both an agent and apeer, as shown in the fifth row 253 e of the table 250 a, addressed byits IP address 95.33.37.80 and signing in at 16/3 on 21:53.

While the pre-connection process was described above regarding thecommunication between a client device (such as the client device #1 31a) and a tunnel device (such as the tunnel device #1 33 a), described asthe client device pre-connection flowchart 64 and the tunnel devicepre-connection flowchart 72, a pre-connection may be equally establishedbetween any two devices in the system 200, such as between a clientdevice (such as the client device #1 201 a) and the acceleration server202, between two client devices, between a client device (such as theclient device #1 201 a) and an agent device (such as the agent device #1103 a), between a client device (such as the client device #1 201 a) anda peer device (such as the peer device #1 102 a), or between a clientdevice and a data server (such as the data server #1 22 a). Similarly, apre-connection may be established between an agent device (such as theagent device #1 103 a) and the acceleration server 202, between twoagent devices, between an agent device (such as the agent device #1 103a) and a peer device (such as the peer device #1 102 a), or between anagent device and a data server (such as the data server #1 22 a).Further, a pre-connection may be established between a peer device (suchas the peer device #1 102 a) and the acceleration server 202, betweentwo peer devices, or between a peer device and a data server (such asthe data server #1 22 a).

A content, such as an URL (or a web-page, or a web-site) which istypically stored in a data server, such as the data server #1 22 a, maybe requested by the client device, such as the client device 201 a, asshown in a state ‘Content Needed’ 223 b in the chart 220. The clientdevice sends a ‘Request List’ message 226 e to the acceleration server202, corresponding to a ‘Request Agents List’ step 231 c in theflowchart 230. This request includes the URL or any other identifier ofthe requested content. The request is received at the accelerationserver 202 in the ‘Agent List Request?’ step 251 d in the flowchart 250,which corresponds to the request by preparing a list of the agentdevices which are associated with the required content, in the ‘PrepareList’ state 222 c in the chart 220, corresponding to the ‘Prepare List’step 251 e in the flowchart 250. For example, the list may includeidentifiers of all agent devices that are related to the data server #122 a, or the identifiers of all the agent devices, which may haveinformation about the location of the chunks relating to the requestedcontent. The list of agents (including the identifiers of the agentdevices) is then sent, in a ‘Send List’ step 251 f in the flowchart 250(corresponding to a message ‘Send List’ 226 in the chart 220), to therequesting client device #1 201 a, that receives the list in a ‘ReceiveAgents List’ step 231 d in the flowchart 230. In the case no appropriateagent devices were found, the client device #1 may choose other schemesfor fetching the required content, such as using tunnels as describedabove, or direct access to the data server #1 22 a in a ‘Content FetchDirect’ step 233 shown as part of the flowchart 230 a in FIG. 23a . Inthe case the list received at the client device #1 201 a includemultiple agents, the client device #1 201 a may select one, two, three,or any other number of agent devices from the list, in a ‘Select Agents’step 231 f in the flowcharts 230 and 230 a, corresponding to a ‘SelectAgent’ state 223 c in the chart 220 illustrating selection of a singleagent. Alternatively, all of the agent devices in the list may beselected.

After receiving the agent devices list in the ‘Receive Agents List’ step231 d, the client device #1 201 a may store the list in its storage,such as a cache memory. In a ‘Store Agents List’ step 231 g. Further, alist of agent devices may be obtained from other elements in the system.Preferably, the list may include information about each agent device andtransaction history relating to each agent device, such as theconnection parameters (e.g., RTT and BW), the results quality, theresolved Domain Name System (DNS), and any other relevant informationthat may be used in the future. Alternatively or in addition toaccessing the acceleration server 202 for obtaining a list of theavailable agent devices in the ‘Request Agents List’ step 231 c, theclient device #1 201 a may obtain a list of relevant agent deviceslocally from a storage or cache memory. For example, the client device#1 201 a may use a list of agent devices that were previously stored aspart of the ‘Store Agents List’ step 231 g.

Any number of agent devices may be selected. The number of agent devicesthat are selected in the ‘Select Agents’ step 231 f may be 1 (one).Alternatively, a small number of agent devices may be selected, such astwo (2) or three (3). Further, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 agent devices maybe selected. Further, more than 10 agent devices may be selected, suchas 10, 20, 30, 40, or 50.

A schematic messaging flow diagram 260 describing the client device #131 a related steps of fetching the agent devices list from theacceleration server 202 is shown in FIG. 26. The ‘Request Agent’ message261 a (corresponding to the ‘Request Agents List’ step 231 c in theflowchart 230) is first sent from the client device #1 31 a to theacceleration server 202, which responds by sending the agents list usingthe ‘Send Agent’ message 261 b (corresponding to the ‘Receive AgentsList’ step 231 d in the flowchart 230).

A flowchart 230 a in FIG. 23a shows an example where three agents areselected by the client device, designated as an agent device #1 (such asthe agent device #1 103 a), an agent device #2 (such as the agent device#2 103 b), and an agent device #3, while the timing and messaging chart220 illustrates the usage of a single agent device. In a ‘Request ListAgent #1’ step 234 a in the flowchart 230 a, the client device #1 201 asend to the agent device #1 103 a (using its identifier from the listreceived from the acceleration server 202) a request for a list of peersassociated the requested content identifier (such as a URL), such asthese peer devices that are known or expected to store chunks of therequested content (or any part of it), corresponding to the ‘RequestList’ message 226 g in the chart 220. The agent device #1 103 a, whichmay be idling in an ‘IDLE’ step 241 c, receives the request from theclient device #1 201 a in a ‘Receive List Request’ step 241 d. Inresponse to the request, in a ‘Prepare Peers List’ step 241 e(corresponding to a state ‘Prepare List’ 224 c in the chart 220), theagent device #1 103 a prepares a list of the peer devices that itbelieves store chunks of the requested content, and in a ‘Send List ToClient’ step 241 f, corresponding to a ‘Send List’ message 226 h in thechart 220, sends the list of identifiers of the relevant peer devicesback to the requesting client device #1 201 a. For each of the selectedagent devices, the client device #1 201 a selects one, two, or all ofthe peers in the list, and then retrieves the relevant chunks from theeach of the selected peer devices as shown in a ‘Chunks Fetch’ flowchart239, shown in FIG. 23b . The peers list is requested from agent device#1 in a ‘Request List Agent #1’ step 234 a, and the chunks are fetchedfrom the peer devices in the list in a ‘Chunks Fetch Agent #1’ step 239a. Similarly, the peers list is requested from agent device #2 in a‘Request List Agent #2’ step 234 b, and the chunks are fetched from thepeer devices in the list in a ‘Chunks Fetch Agent #2’ step 239 b, whichfollows the same ‘Chunks Fetch’ flow in the flowchart 239, and the peerslist is requested from agent #3 in a ‘Request List Agent #3’ step 234 c,and the chunks are fetched from the peer devices in the list in a‘Chunks Fetch Agent #3’ step 239 c, which also follows the same ‘ChunksFetch’ flowchart 239.

A schematic visual messaging flow diagram 260 a describing the clientdevice #1 31 a related steps of fetching the peer devices list from theagent device #1 103 a is shown in FIG. 26a . The ‘Request Peer List’message 262 a (corresponding to the ‘Request List Agent #1’ step 234 ain the flowchart 230 b) is first sent from the client device #1 31 a tothe agent device #1 103 a, which responds by sending the peer list usinga ‘Send Peer List’ message 262 b (corresponding to a ‘Receive PeersList’ step 238 in the flowchart 230 b).

The flowchart 239 in FIG. 23b is an example of a handling of the listreceived from the agent device #1 103 a. The list of the peer devicesidentifiers is received at the client device in a ‘Receive Peers List’step 238, followed by a ‘Select Peers’ step 238 a (corresponding to a‘Select Peers’ state 223 d shown in the chart 220), where the clientdevice #1 201 a selects which peer devices out of the list are to beused. The client device may select one, two, three, or any other numberout of the listed peer identifiers, or may use all the peer devices inthe list. In the example shown in the flowchart 239, three peer devicesare used, designated as peer #1, peer #2, and peer #3. For each selectedpeer device, such as the peer device #1 102 a, the client device #1 201a in the ‘Request Chunk Peer #1’ step 237 a which corresponds to a‘Chunk Request’ message 226 i in the chart 220, send a request to theselected peer device asking for a chunk (or multiple chunks) that isstored (or expected to be stored) thereof. The peer device, such as thepeer device #1 102 a is in general idling in an ‘IDLE’ step 242 c in theflowchart 240 a. Upon receiving the request from the client device #1201 a in a ‘Receive Chunk Request’ step 242 d in the flowchart 240 a,the peer device #1 102 a fetches the requested chunk (or chunks) asdenoted in ‘Fetch Chunk’ state 225 b in the chart 220, and send it tothe requesting client device #1 201 a, in a ‘Send Chunk To Client’ step242 e in the flowchart 240 a, which corresponds to a ‘Send Chunk’message 226 j shown in the chart 220. The sent chunk is received at theclient device #1 201 a in the ‘Receive Chunk Peer #1’ step 236 a. Aschematic visual messaging flow diagram 260 b describing the clientdevice #1 31 a related steps of fetching chunks from the peer device #1102 a is shown in FIG. 26b . The ‘Request Chunk’ message 263 a(corresponding to the ‘Request Chunk Peer #1’ step 237 a in theflowchart 230 b) is first sent from the client device #1 31 a to thepeer device #1 102 a, which responds by sending the requested chunks inthe ‘Send Chunk’ message 263 b (corresponding to the ‘Receive Chunk Peer#1’ step 236 a in the flowchart 230 b).

Similarly, the chunks from peer #2 are requested (in parallel orsequentially to peer #1 chunks fetching 239 a operation) in a ‘RequestChunk Peer #2’ step 237 b, and are received in a ‘Receive Chunk Peer #2’step 236 b, and the chunks from the peer device #3 102 c are requested(in parallel or sequentially to peer device #1 chunks fetching 239 aoperation) in a ‘Request Chunk Peer #3’ step 237 b, and are received ina ‘Receive Chunk Peer #3’ step 236 c. A schematic visual messaging flowdiagram 260 c describing the client device #1 31 a related steps offetching chunks from the peer device #2 102 b is shown in FIG. 26c . A‘Request Chunk’ message 263 c (corresponding to the ‘Request Chunk Peer#2’ step 237 b in the flowchart 230 b) is first sent from the clientdevice #1 31 a to the peer device #2 102 b, which responds by sendingthe requested chunks in the ‘Send Chunk’ message 263 d (corresponding tothe ‘Receive Chunk Peer #2’ step 236 b in the flowchart 230 b).Similarly, a schematic visual messaging flow diagram 260 d describingthe client device #1 31 a related steps of fetching chunks from the peerdevice #3 102 c is shown in FIG. 26d . The ‘Request Chunk’ message 263 e(corresponding to the ‘Request Chunk Peer #3’ step 237 c in theflowchart 230 b) is first sent from the client device #1 31 a to thepeer device #3 102 c, which responds by sending the requested chunks inthe ‘Send Chunk’ message 263 f (corresponding to the ‘Receive Chunk Peer#3’ step 236 c in the flowchart 230 b).

Upon receiving part of, or all of, the requested chunks, the clientdevice #1 201 a assembles the chunks to render a reconstructed content(in part or in full), such as the requested URL, in an ‘Assemble URL’step 235, corresponding to a ‘Whole Content Received’ state 223 e in thechart 220. In the case part of the content is still missing, the clientdevice #1 201 a may directly approach the data server #1 22 a in a‘Content Fetch Direct’ step 233, or use other schemes, such as usingtunnel devices as described above to fetch the remaining part of thecontent.

Any number of peer devices may be selected. The number of peer devicesthat are selected in the ‘Select Peers’ step 238 a may be 1.Alternatively, a small number of peer devices may be selected, such as 2or 3. Further, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 peer devices may be selected.Further, more than 10 peer devices may be selected, such as 10, 20, 30,40, or 50.

After a transaction involving fetching a content from all peer devicesis completed, it is beneficial to store the fetched content for futureuse, as shown in a ‘Store Content’ step 235 a in the flowchart 230 a.The fetched content may be stored in the client device in any volatileor non-volatile memory, or may be stored in a local cache as describedin U.S. Pat. No. 8,135,912 to the Shribman et al., entitled: “System andMethod of Increasing Cache Size”, which is incorporated in its entiretyfor all purposes as if fully set forth herein. The content is storedwith its related metadata or any other identifiers, so it can be easilydetected and fetched when later required. For example, the storedcontent may be used when the same content is required at any later stageby the same client, or may be used when the client device also serves asa peer device, such as the peer device #1 102 a as shown in system 260.In the latter case, the fetched content (such as a URL content) may bearranged and stored as chunks, as described herein.

The selection of the agent devices to be used in the ‘Select Agents’step 231 f may use any of the selection rules or criteria describedabove regarding to selecting tunnel devices in the ‘Select Tunnel’ step62 c or the ‘Select Tunnels’ step 101 a described above. Further, theselection of peer devices to be used in the ‘Select Peers’ step 238 amay use any of the selection rules or criteria described above regardingto selecting tunnel devices in the ‘Select Tunnel’ step 62 c or the‘Select Tunnels’ step 101 a described above.

The performance of the method and system described herein may be basedon the latency involved in fetching a required content. The flowchart230 a in FIG. 23a describes the steps involved in fetching content froma peer device, and a flowchart 239 in FIG. 23b provides further detailedoperation of a client device, such as the client device #1 201 a. The‘Receive Chunk Peer #1’ step 236 a (as an example for all equivalentsteps such as the ‘Receive Chunk #2’ step 236 b and the ‘Receive Chunk#3’ step 236 c) may be partitioned into two or more steps, as shown in aflowchart 270 in FIG. 27, such as a ‘Receive Start’ step 271 a, relatingto the starting of receiving data from a peer device, upon starting orcompleting the reception of the first byte of the data, for example, anda ‘Receive End’ step 271 b, relating to the ending of receiving datafrom a tunnel, for example upon starting or completing the reception ofthe end byte of the data.

As part of the ‘Request Chunk Peer #1’ step 237 a, a timer #1 is startedin a ‘Timer #1 Start’ step 272 a, and the timer #1 is stopped in a‘Timer #1 Stop’ step 272 b at the beginning of the receiving the datafrom the peer device in a ‘Receive Start’ step 271 a. Hence, timer #1 isused to measure the Round Trip Time (RTT), relating to the time intervalmeasured from sending the request to a peer device until the requesteddata is starting to be received. Similarly, as part of a ‘Receive Start’step 273 a a timer #2 is started, and the timer #2 is stopped in a‘Timer #2 Stop’ step 273 b at the end of the receiving the data from thepeer device in a ‘Receive End’ step 271 b. Hence, timer #2 is used tomeasure the time interval required to receive the content itself fromthe peer device. For example, in case the time interval is 50milliseconds (ms), this is the time interval measured from starting toend of the data reception from the peer device. In the case the contentsize is X bits, the BW can be calculated as the X bits divided by thetimer #2 measured time interval. For example, in the case the receivedcontent from the peer device is about the size of 50,000 bits (50 Kbits)received during 100 milliseconds (ms), the effective (or average) BW isBW=50,000/0.1=500,000 bits/second=500 Kb/s=62.5 Kbytes/s=62.5 KB/s. Thetotal latency affecting the performance is the combination of both thetime interval measured by timer #1 and the time interval measured bytimer #2. Using the above examples where the timer #1 measured an RTT of50 ms and the timer #2 measured 100 ms, the total latency, measured fromsending the request to the peer device in the ‘Request Chunk Peer #1’step 237 a to the end of the content reception in the ‘Receive End’ step271 b, is 150 ms (50+100=150).

After a transaction involving fetching a content from a peer iscompleted, it is beneficial to store the transaction related informationfor future use, such as for future analysis. An example of a tablerelating to transactions log, that may be part of a database, is shownas a table 280 in FIG. 28. The table is updated in the ‘UpdateTransactions Log’ step 274 as part of the flowchart 270 shown in FIG.27. A top row 282 provides the titles of the various columns, where eachof the rows provides information regarding a specific transaction, wherea first transaction information is shown in a first row 282 a, thesecond transaction information is shown in a second row 282 b, the thirdtransaction information is shown in a third row 282 c, and so forth. Afirst column 281 a shows the date and time (in DD/MM HH/MM format) whenthe transaction occurred, such as the start or end of the transaction.For example, the first transaction related information is in the firstrow 282 a shows that the transaction was completed (or started) at March13, at 9:23. Similarly, the second transaction information is in thesecond row 282 b shows that the transaction was completed (or started)at March 13^(th), at 9:46, and the third transaction information is inthe third row 282 b shows that the transaction was completed (orstarted) at April 16^(th), on 11:22. A second column 281 b includes anidentifier such as the IP address of the peer device that was used inthe transaction to fetch the content from the data server, whichidentifier (such as its IP address) is included in a third column 281 c.In the example of the first transaction shown in first row 282 a, the IPaddress of the peer device used is 229.155.81.168, and it was used tofetch content stored in a data server having an IP address of128.164.35.35.142. Similarly, in the example of the second transactionshown in second row 282 b, the IP address of the peer device used is248.107.109.10, and it was used to fetch content stored in a data serverhaving an IP address of 49.154.2.5, and in the example of the thirdtransaction shown in third row 282 c, the IP address of the peer deviceused is 158.217.19.195, and it was used to fetch content stored in adata server having an IP address of 72.251.238.51. A fourth column 281 ddescribes the identifier of the content that was fetched during thistransaction, such as IP address, URL, web-site or web-page, where thefirst transaction content (in the first row 282 a) relates to the URLwww.111.com/22.mpg, the second transaction content (in the second row282 b) relates to the URL www.xxx.com/hy.avi, the third transactioncontent (in the third row 282 c) relates to the URL www.yyy.com/t6.php,and so forth.

A fifth column 281 e logs the BW calculated in a respective transaction,based on timer #2 time interval measurement as described above. In thefirst transaction (in the first row 282 a) the calculated BW is loggedas 1000 Kb/s (=1 Mb/s=125 KB/s), in the second transaction (in thesecond row 282 b) the calculated BW is logged as 350 Kb/s (=0.35 Mb/s),and in the third transaction (in the third row 282 c) the calculated BWis logged as 2500 Kb/s (=2.5 Mb/s). A sixth column 281 f logs the RTTmeasured in the transaction, based on timer #1 time interval measurementas described above. In the first transaction (in the first row 282 a)the measured RTT is logged as 30 ms (=0.03 seconds=0.03 s), in thesecond transaction (in the second row 282 b) the measured RTT is loggedas 70 ms, and in the third transaction (in the third row 282 c) themeasured RTT is logged as 540 ms (=0.54 second).

The transaction log, such as table 150, may be prepared by a clientdevice, such as client device #1 201 a, and stored in the client devicefor future use. Alternatively or in addition, the transaction log may besent, after each transaction or after multiple transactions, such as pera time period (e.g, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly), to other entitiesin the system, to be stored in the entities for future use by them or byother entities in the network. In one example, the transaction log issent to the acceleration server 202. Alternatively or in addition, thetransactions log may be sent to the relevant agent devices, such as theagent device #1 103 a or the agent device #2 103 b, or any other agentdevice associated with the relevant peer device or devices involved inthe transaction.

Similar to table 280 shown in FIG. 28, a table 280 a shown in FIG. 28ashows a table relating to four peer devices used for fetching differentcontent from the same data server (such as the data server #1 22 a),thus the same server IP address is shown in the third column 283 c. TheIP addresses of the peer devices are shown in the second column 283 b,the URL fetched is shown in the fourth column 283 d, the date and timeof the transaction are logged in the first column 283 a, the BW is shownin the fifth column 283 e, and the measured RTT is shown in the sixthcolumn 283 f. The first transaction (logged in a first row 284 a) isusing a first peer device having IP address of 139.230.154.213, thesecond transaction (logged in a second row 284 b) is using a second peerdevice having IP address of 132.171.60.197, the third transaction(logged in a third row 282 c) is using a third peer device having IPaddress of 248.46.80.36, and the fourth transaction (logged in a fourthrow 154 d) is using a fourth peer device having IP address of31.16.208.171.

The peer devices to be used when content is to be fetched from a dataserver (such as the data server 22 a) may be selected by a client device(such as the client device #1 201 a) in the ‘Select Peers’ step 238 a inthe flowchart 230 b or by the agent devices in the ‘Prepare Peers List’step 241 e in the flowchart 240. Alternatively or in addition, the peerdevices may be selected by the acceleration server 202. Similarly, theagent devices to be used may be selected by a client device (such as theclient device #1 201 a) in the ‘Select Agents’ step 231 f in theflowchart 230, or may be selected by the acceleration server 202 in the‘Prepare List’ 251 e in the flowchart 250. The selection may be based ona past performance of the peer devices, such as on any informationrelating to former transactions involving these peers. In one example,the transactions log may be used to evaluate and select which peerdevices to use in a specific transaction to be executed, or in multipletransactions.

In the example of the transaction log table 280 a shown in FIG. 28a andrelating to a client device, the client device may need to fetch contentfrom the same data server shown in the table 280 a (having an IP addressof 49.154.2.5), and thus may use the table content as an indication ofthe performance of the various peer devices. In one example, thecriterion to select a single peer (or agent) device to be used forfetching content from the data server may be based on having higher BW,assuming that the higher BW has not changed and thus will result infaster content fetching, and hence the peer device used in the thirdlogged transaction (having an IP address of 248.46.80.36) will beselected for this transaction, having the highest recorded BW of 2500Kb/s. In the case two peer devices are to be selected, the second peerdevice to be selected is the peer device used in the fourth loggedtransaction (having an IP address of 31.16.208.171) will be selected forthis transaction, being associated with the second highest BW in thetable. Similarly, the peer device associated with the first loggedtransaction will be the next to be selected.

Alternatively or in addition, the criterion to select a single peer (oran agent) device to be used for fetching content from the data servermay be based on having lower RTT, assuming that the lower RTT has notchanged and thus will result in faster content fetching. Hence the peerdevice used in the first logged transaction (having an IP address of139.230.154.213) will be selected for this transaction, having thelowest recorded RTT of 30 ms. In the case two peer devices are to beselected, the second peer device to be selected is the peer device usedin the second logged transaction (having an IP address of132.171.60.197) will be selected for this transaction, being associatedwith the second lowest RTT in the table (70 ms). Similarly, the peerdevice associated with the fourth logged transaction will be the next tobe selected.

Alternatively or in addition, both the RTT and the BW are used ascriteria for selecting peer (or agent) devices. In one example, theexpected total latency is calculated, based on both the former BW andthe former RTT, and the peer device offering the lowest estimated totallatency will be selected. In one example, assuming the content to befetched is estimated (or known to be) having the size of 100 Kb (100kilobits). The peer device used in the first logged transaction (in thefirst row 284 a) is associated with past performance (with the same dataserver) of BW=1000 Kb/s and RTT=30 ms. In such a case, the total latencyis calculated and estimated as 30+100/1000=130 ms. The peer device usedin the second logged transaction (in the second row 284 b) is associatedwith past performance (with the same data server) of BW=350 Kb/s andRTT=70 ms, and thus the total latency is calculated and estimated as70+100/350=355.7 ms. Similarly, the estimated total latency of using thepeer device used in the third logged transaction (in the third row 284c) is 580 ms, and the estimated total latency of using the peer deviceused in the fourth logged transaction (in the fourth row 284 d) is 241.4ms. Having the lowest estimated total latency, the peer device used inthe first logged transaction (in the first row 284 a) will be selectedfirst as having the lowest expected total latency, the peer device usedin the fourth logged transaction (in the fourth row 284 d) will beselected second, the peer device used in the second logged transaction(in the second row 284 b) will be selected third, and the peer deviceused in the third logged transaction (in the third row 284 c) will beselected last.

However, assuming the content to be fetched is estimated (or known tobe) having the size of 1000 Kb (1000 kilobits=1 Mb). The peer deviceused in the first logged transaction (the first row 284 a) is associatedwith past performance (with the same data server) of BW=1000 Kb/s andRTT=30 ms. In such a case, the total latency is calculated and estimatedas 30+1000/1000=1030 ms (1.03 s). The peer device used in the secondlogged transaction (in the second row 284 b) is associated with pastperformance (with the same data server) of BW=350 Kb/s and RTT=70 ms,and thus the total latency is calculated and estimated as70+1000/350=2927.1 ms. Similarly, the estimated total latency of usingthe peer device used in the third logged transaction (in the third row284 c) is 940 ms, and the estimated total latency of using the peerdevice used in the fourth logged transaction (in the fourth row 284 d)is 884.2 ms. Having the lowest estimated total latency, the peer deviceused in the fourth logged transaction (in the fourth row 284 d) will beselected first as having the lowest expected total latency, the peerdevice used in the third logged transaction (in the third row 284 c)will be selected second, the peer device used in the first loggedtransaction (in the first row 284 a) will be selected third, and thepeer device used in the second logged transaction (in the second row 284b) will be selected last.

In the general case, there may be N peer devices that may be used,designated i=1, 2, . . . N, and that the total content size is X.Assuming non-overlapping partition, each of the peer devices (i) will beassigned part of the total content Xi, where X=ΣXi. The latency (Ti) ineach path (i) relating to a peer device (i) is calculated asTi=RTTi+Xi/BWi, where RTTi is the RTT associated with peer device (i)and BWi is the BW associated with the peer device (i). Since typicallythe latency relating to complete the fetching of the whole of thecontent (T) is determined by the longest latency of the individuallatency Ti, then T=max(Ti), hence it is beneficial to minimize themaximum Ti, designated as min(max(Ti))=min(max(RTTi+Xi/BWi)). Such aminimum is obtained when all Ti's are equal to each other, so thatT=Ti=T₁=T₂=T₃= . . . =T_(N), which is resulted when the partition Xi is:Xi=BWi*[(X+ΣRTTi*BWi)/(ΣBWi)−RTTi], and the latency in such a case isT=(X+Σ(RTTi*BWi))/(ΣBWi). In the example of using two peer devices(N−2), then Xi=BW₁*[X+BW₂*(RTT₂−RTT₁)]/(BW₁+BW₂) andX₂=BW2*[X+BW₁*(RTT₁−RTT₂)]/(BW₁+BW₂), while the resulting latency isT=T₁=T₂=(RTT₁*BW₁+RTT₂*BW₂+X)/(BW₁+BW₂).

Referring now to a system 290 shown in FIG. 29, schematically showing ageneral peer device #i 102 i, which stores in a database 291 i theentire content required (or a part of it), or at least part X_(i) (whichmay be chunks-based) of the content that is required by the clientdevice #1 201 a. The peer device #i 102 i communicates with the clientdevice #1 201 a over a data path 297 i, characterized by an RTT_(i) andBW_(i), so that the latency can be estimated to beTi=RTT_(i)+X_(i)/BW_(i). Similarly, a peer device #1 102 a, which storesin a database 291 a the entire content required, or at least part X_(i)(which may be chunks-based) of the content that is required by theclient device #1 201 a. The peer device #1 102 a communicates with theclient device #1 201 a over a data path 297 a, characterized by an RTT₁and BW₁, so that the latency can be estimated to be T₁=RTT₁+X₁/BW₁.Assuming that there are N peer devices, a peer device #N 102 _(N) isshown, which stores in a database 291 _(N) the entire content required,or at least part X_(N) (which may be chunks-based) of the content thatis required by the client device #1 201 a. The peer device #_(N) 102_(N) communicates with the client device #1 201 a over a data path 297_(N), characterized by an RTT_(N) and BW_(N), so that the latency overthis data path can be estimated to be T_(N)=RTT_(N)+X_(N)/BW_(N).

An analysis of the system 290 is shown as a view 290 a in FIG. 29a . Thetotal latency expression is based on the arrival of the last piece (orlast chunk) of a requested content to the client device #1 201 a, andhence T=Max (T_(i)) as shown in an expression (1) 292 a, and in order toobtain fastest load time, the target is to minimize the total latency T,based on a partition X_(i) of the total content X, as shown in anexpression (2) 292 b. Such minimum is obtained where the latency is thesame (T) in all the data paths, as shown in an expression (3) 292 c. Anexpression (4) 292 d provides the optimal partition X_(i) for minimumlatency, and an expression (5) 292 e provides the obtained latency. Itis apparent that in the case wherein a fixed-fixed chunks are used inthe system, the calculation of Xi may result in a non-integer number ofchunks. In such a case, a chunk may be further partitioned into smallerchunks. Alternatively or in addition, the resulting sizes may be roundto the nearest integer value, allowing for keeping the scheme of onlyusing fixed-size chunks.

The allocation of the parts of the requested content to the availablepeer devices to be fetched therefrom, may be part of the ‘Select Peers’step 238 a. While exampled above regarding the allocation of content andthe partitioning in a peer/agent based system, the method and theanalysis are equally applicable for any system or arrangement wheremultiple data paths are used, each relating to the allocated parts ofthe content. For example, such a method may be used when the content isfetched using agents, such as in the ‘Content Partition’ step 101 b inthe flowchart 100 (or the flowchart 100 a) above, where the partitionmay be based on the expression (4) 292 d shown in the view 290 a.

FIG. 29 further shows an example of a content 293, composed of 6 (six)non-overlapping fixed-sized chunks designated as ‘A’ 293 a, ‘B’ 293 b,‘C’ 293 c, ‘D’ 293 d, ‘E’ 293 e, and ‘F’ 293 f. In one example, assumingthree (3) peer devices are used (N=3 in the system 290), the allocationdetermined is shown in view 295 a in FIG. 29b , where three chunksincluding the chunks ‘A’ 293 a, ‘B’ 293 b, and ‘C’ 293 c, are allocatedto be fetched from a first peer device (such as the peer device #1 102a), a single chunk ‘D’ 293 d is allocated to be fetched from a secondpeer device (such as the peer device #i 102 i), and the two chunks ‘E’293 e and ‘F’ 293 f, are allocated to be fetched from a third peerdevice (such as the peer device #N 102N). At time t=0, the contentfetching from the three peer devices is started. A client device (suchas the client device #1 201 a) prepares a memory 294 for storing therequested content 293 upon obtaining it.

The allocations of the content chunks into the available peer devicesmay be based on estimation RTT, BW, as well as other parameters relatingto each of the peer devices, as well as on the communicationcharacteristics associated with each peer device, and known to theclient device. Such an estimation may be found to be inaccurate or notupdated. The client device may measure and update the BW, RTT, and otherrelevant information as part of the actual content fetching. Forexample, an actual RTT and BW may be measured per each of the peerdevices as described in the flowchart 140 in FIG. 14, added to otherupdated information gathered throughout the content fetching process.Further, the allocation of chunks to peer devices may be re-evaluatedaccording to the updated parameters, and changed during the contentfetching process. The re-evaluating of the allocation may be executedcontinuously and simultaneously with the content fetching, or preferablyat specified time intervals.

In one example shown as view 295 b in FIG. 29b , at a time t=t1 afterthe content fetching activity has initiated, the client device checksthe status of the fetching, to find that the chunks ‘A’ 193 a, ‘B’ 293b, and ‘D’ 293 d have been completely fetched and loaded into the clientdevice memory 294. Further, the chunk ‘C’ 293 c is about to start to befetched from the first peer device, and a chunk ‘E’ 293 e is in theprocess of being fetched. It is noted that the chunk ‘F’ 293 f has notyet been fetched, and is expected to be the last chunk to be fullyfetched, and hence determines and affects the total time required forthe fetching of the entire requested content 293. In one example, shownas a view 295 d in FIG. 29c , the client device may decide, in order toreduce the total fetching time, to recalculate the allocation, and forexample to reallocate the fetching of the chunk ‘F’ 293 f (being the‘bottleneck’ chunk) to another peer device, such as the second peerdevice. Alternatively or in addition, in order to improve efficiency andreduce the content fetching latency, the last to receive the chunk ‘F’293 f is split into two equal-sized chunks ‘F1’ 293 f 1 and ‘F2’ 293 f2. It is apparent that splitting into non-equally sized chunks, orsplitting into more than two chunks, may be equally applicable. Each ofthe newly formed chunks may now be allocated to a peer device, using anyallocation scheme or criteria. In one example shown in view 295 e inFIG. 29c , one of the new chunks ‘F1’ 293 f 1 is allocated to the thirdpeer device, while the other chunk ‘F2’ 293 f 2 is allocated now to thesecond peer device.

The flowchart 296 shown in FIG. 29d , corresponds to the flowchart 239shown in FIG. 23b , describes an example of a method involving real-timere-allocation of chunks to peer devices. The initial allocation ofchunks to peer devices, based on criteria and scheme known before thecontent fetch initiation, is part of the ‘Select Peers’ step 238 a. Thefetching of the peer device #1 allocated chunks starts in a ‘StartReceive Chunk Peer #1’ step 298 a, being part of the ‘Receive Chunk Peer#1’ step 236 a shown in the flowchart 239 in FIG. 23b . Similarly, thefetching of the peer device #2 allocated chunks starts in a ‘StartReceive Chunk Peer #2’ step 298 b, being part of the ‘Receive Chunk Peer#2’ step 236 b in the flowchart 239 in FIG. 23b , and the fetching ofthe peer device #3 allocated chunks starts in a ‘Start Receive ChunkPeer #3’ step 298 c, being part of the ‘Receive Chunk Peer #3’ step 236c in the flowchart 239 in FIG. 23b . In parallel to the process offetching the various chunks from the allocated peer devices, the clientdevice, continuously or periodically, measures the various communicationrelated characteristics for each communication with a peer device, suchas BW and RTT, as part of a ‘Measure BW, RTT’ step 299 a. The newmeasured parameters are used for recalculation of the allocation, forexample according to the expression (4) 292 d in FIG. 29a . In a‘Re-Allocate?’ step 299 b, the need for changing the former allocationis determined. In some cases, there may be no need to change the initialor former allocation. If there a need for re-allocation, the ‘SelectPeers’ step 238 a is resumed, and new allocation is affected.

In one example shown as arrangement 290 a in FIG. 29e , each of the peerdevices stored all of the chunks composing the entire content 293. Thepeer device #1 102 a is shown to store the entire content in its memoryas content 291 a. Similarly, the peer device #i 102 i stores the entirecontent in its memory as content 291 i, and the peer device #N 102Nstores the entire content in its memory as content 291N. In such a case,the client device 201 a may choose any peer device for any chunk of thecontent 293, or may even choose a single peer device (such as the peerdevice #1 102 a) to fetch the entire content therefrom. Alternatively orin addition, each of the peer devices may store only part of the chunkscomposing the content 293, as shown in an arrangement 290 b in FIG. 29f. The peer device #1 102 a is shown to store only chunks ‘A’ 293 a, ‘B’293 b, ‘C’ 293 c, and ‘E’ 293 e, in its memory as content 291 a, whilethe peer device #i 102 i stores only chunks ‘A’ 293 a, ‘C’ 293 c, ‘D’293 d, and ‘F’ 293 f, in its memory as content 291 i, and the peerdevice #N 102N stores only chunks ‘A’ 293 a, ‘D’ 293 d, ‘E’ 293 e, and‘F’ 293 f, in its memory as content 291N. It is noted that such storingof portions of the content 293 may not affect the system operationdescribed in views 295 a, 295 b, 295 c, and 295 d, since the chunksrequired from each of the peer devices are indeed stored in these peerdevices. In such a configuration, the agent devices and the clientdevice should consider the actual content portion in each of the peerdevice, in addition to the size of the content portion that is optimalto be fetched from them.

Each of the devices denoted herein as servers, such as the accelerationserver 32, the data server #1 22 a, the data server #2 22 b, and theacceleration server 202, may typically function as a server in themeaning of client/server architecture, providing services,functionalities, and resources, to other devices (clients), commonly inresponse to the clients' request. Each of the server devices may furtheremploy, store, integrate, or operate a server-oriented operating system,such as the Microsoft Windows Server® (2003 R2, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, or2012 R2 variant), Linux™ (or GNU/Linux) variants (such as Debian based:Debian GNU/Linux, Debian GNU/kFreeBSD, or Debian GNU/Hurd, Fedora™,Gentoo™, Linspire™, Mandriva, Red Hat® Linux available from Red Hat,Inc. headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., U.S.A., Slackware®, SuSE, orUbuntu®), or UNIX®, including commercial UNIX® variants such as Solaris™(available from Oracle Corporation headquartered in Redwood City,Calif., U.S.A.), AIX® (available from IBM Corporation headquartered inArmonk, N.Y., U.S.A.), or Mac™ OS X (available from Apple Inc.headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., U.S.A.), or free variants such asFreeBSD®, OpenBSD, and NetBSD®. Alternatively or in addition, each ofthe devices denoted herein as servers, may equally function as a clientin the meaning of client/server architecture.

Devices that are not denoted herein as servers, such as client devices(such as the client device #1 31 a, the client device #2 31 b, or theclient device #1 201 a), tunnel devices (such as the tunnel device #1 33a or the tunnel device #2 33 b), agent devices (such as the agent device#1 103 a or the agent device #2 103 b), or peer devices (such as thepeer device #1 102 a or the peer device #2 102 b), may typicallyfunction as a client in the meaning of client/server architecture,commonly initiating requests for receiving services, functionalities,and resources, from other devices (servers or clients). Each of thethese devices may further employ, store, integrate, or operate aclient-oriented (or end-point dedicated) operating system, such asMicrosoft Windows® (including the variants: Windows 7, Windows XP,Windows 8, and Windows 8.1, available from Microsoft Corporation,headquartered in Redmond, Wash., U.S.A.), Linux, and Google Chrome OSavailable from Google Inc. headquartered in Mountain View, Calif.,U.S.A. Further, each of the these devices may further employ, store,integrate, or operate a mobile operating system such as Android(available from Google Inc. and includes variants such as version 2.2(Froyo), version 2.3 (Gingerbread), version 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich),Version 4.2 (Jelly Bean), and version 4.4 (KitKat)), iOS (available fromApple Inc., and includes variants such as versions 3-7), Windows® Phone(available from Microsoft Corporation and includes variants such asversion 7, version 8, or version 9), or Blackberry® operating system(available from BlackBerry Ltd., headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario,Canada). Alternatively or in addition, each of the devices that are notdenoted herein as servers, may equally function as a server in themeaning of client/server architecture.

The method and system described herein allows for a client device (suchas Client device #1 31 a in FIG. 5 or the client device #1 201 a in FIG.20) to effectively fetch content from a data server (such as the dataserver #1 22 a). The method and system may be used by the client devicefor supporting an application, such as a web browser application, whenthe application is requesting a content from the Internet in general,and from a data server in particular. The request for Internet-relatedcontent may be intercepted by the ‘client’ application and process,initiating the client flowchart 60 shown in FIG. 6, the flowchart 100shown in FIG. 10, or the flowchart 230 shown in FIG. 23. In one example,the client device uses a communication-related application to be used bythe application when no ‘client’ application is present, such as HTTPstack handling application. The request from the requesting applicationto the communication-related application is intercepted and routed to behandled as part of the ‘client’ application or process. Suchinterception may be in the form of a filter driver (or any otherintermediate driver), enabling the interception as part of the OSkernel. Alternatively or in addition, the interception may be in theform of extension or a plug-in of the requesting application, such as abrowser plug-in or a browser extension in the case where the applicationis a web browser. Alternatively or in addition, the interception of therequest may use hooking of the requesting application or of thecommunication-related application. Alternatively or in addition, theapplication and the steps described herein may communicate using anInter-Process Communication (IPC), such as a file sharing, a signal, asocket, a pipe, a message queue, a shared memory, a semaphore, or memorymapped file. In Windows environment, the IPC may be based on aclipboard, a Component Object Model (COM), a data copy, a DDE protocol,or mailslots.

Examples of web browsers include Microsoft Internet Explorer (availablefrom Microsoft Corporation, headquartered in Redmond, Wash., U.S.A.),Google Chrome which is a freeware web browser (developed by Google,headquartered in Googleplex, Mountain View, Calif., U.S.A.), Opera™(developed by Opera Software ASA, headquartered in Oslo, Norway), andMozilla Firefox® (developed by Mozilla Corporation headquartered inMountain View, Calif., U.S.A.). The web-browser may be a mobile browser,such as Safari (developed by Apple Inc. headquartered in Apple Campus,Cupertino, Calif., U.S.A.), Opera Mini™ (developed by Opera SoftwareASA, headquartered in Oslo, Norway), and Android web browser.

Any network element, or any device that is herein that is connectable tothe Internet, may be in one of the states in a state diagram 300 shownin FIG. 30. A device may be in an ‘OFFLINE’ state 301, where the devicecannot access, and cannot be accessed via, the Internet. For example,the device may be not powered, or may not be connected to the Internetdue to a faulty or non-operative communication interface, or due to thelack of Internet connectivity in the vicinity of the device. In normaloperation, the device is in an ‘ONLINE’ state 302, where the device isconnected to the Internet, and may receive messages from, and sendmessages to, the Internet. Further, a resource (or few resources) in thedevice may in time become congested in a ‘CONGESTED’ state 303. Thedevice monitors its resources and performance, and upon detecting aresource utilization that is above a set threshold, declares itself ascongested. The congestion detection scheme serves as a mechanism tomeasure the device performance and quality of service, and may be usedto alert other devices in the system that the device may not be capableto handle additional tasks or services. The detection of congestion maybe further used for load balancing, such as for distributing workloadsacross multiple computing resources, such as computers, a computercluster, network links, central processing units, or disk drives, foroptimizing resource use, maximizing throughput, minimizing responsetime, and avoiding overload of any one of the resources. Further, usingmultiple components in a device with load balancing instead of a singlecomponent may increase reliability through redundancy. Similarly, usingmultiple devices in a system or network with load balancing instead of asingle (or few) device may increase reliability through redundancy.

Upon power up and being operative, the device shifts from the ‘OFFLINE’state 301 to the ‘ONLINE’ state 302 as depicted by an arrow 304 b in thestates chart 300. If for any reason the device is not capable to accessthe Internet or to be operative as required, such as upon powering thedevice power off or a faulty Internet connection, the device isconsidered to shift to the ‘OFFLINE’ state 301 as depicted by an arrow304 a. In the case a congestion is detected, the device shifts to the‘CONGESTED’ state 303, as depicted by an arrow 304 e. Upon detectingthat the detected congestion has elapsed, the device may resume tonormal operation in the ‘ONLINE’ state 302, as depicted by an arrow 304d. The device may also shift from the ‘CONGESTED’ state 303 to the‘OFFLINE’ state 301, as depicted by an arrow 304 c.

In one example, the congestion decision may be based on a CPUutilization, where CPU time or CPU usage is reported either for eachthread, for each process, or for the entire system. The CPU utilizationrelates to the relative time that the CPU is not idling (for example,the amount of time it not executing a system idle process). In the casethe CPU utilization is above a predetermined threshold, such as 80%, thedevice declares itself as congested. Alternatively or in addition, acongestion state may be based on memory utilization. In the case whereinthe memory locations that are in use are above a predeterminedthreshold, for example, when additional memory requirements may not besatisfied, the device may declare itself as congested. Alternatively orin addition, a congestion state may be the result of detecting of lowavailability of communication bandwidth (for example, for accessing theInternet), or input/output resources limitations. The congestion inInternet related communication is described in IETF RFC 2914 entitled:“Congestion Control Principles”, which is incorporated in its entiretyfor all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

A heartbeat mechanism may be used in order to allow devices to sense thestatus of other devices in the system. A ‘ONLINE HEARTBEAT’ flow chart305 is shown in FIG. 31 as part of the flowchart 310, may be executed byany device herein. The device may be in an ‘OFFLINE’ step 301,corresponding to the ‘OFFLINE’ state in the state diagram 300. When inthe ‘ONLINE’ state 302 and the ‘CONGESTED’ state 303, the deviceexecutes the flow chart ‘ONLINE HEARTBEAT’ 305, which starts at a ‘SendHeartbeat’ step 305 a, where the device sends a ‘ping’ or any othermessage, thus notifying its availability over the Internet, and being innormal operation, and capable of providing services to other devices ifrequired. The message sent in this step may be a dedicated heartbeatrelated message. Alternatively or in addition, any message which is sentas part of the device functionality, may as well be used as a‘heartbeat’ message, corresponding to the ‘Send Heartbeat’ step 305 a.For example, the ‘Sign-in as Client’ step 61 b in the client deviceflowchart 60, the ‘Request Tunnel List’ step 62 a, the ‘Request AgentsList’ step 231 c in the client flowchart 230, and the ‘Send Chunk toClient’ step 242 d in the peer flowchart 240 a, may serve also as aheartbeat message, corresponding to the ‘Send Hearbeat’ step 305 a. Atimer set to a predetermined time interval is started in a ‘Start Timer’step 305 b. The time period set by the timer is used to determine thefrequency of the heartbeat ‘pulse’, where high frequency resulting shorttime periods allows for frequent updating of the device status. The timeperiod between ‘heartbeat pulses’ may be in the order of milliseconds,such as every 10, 20, 30, 50, or 100 milliseconds, may be in the orderof seconds, such as every 1, 2, 3, 5, or 10 seconds, may be in the orderof tens of seconds, such as every 10, 20, 30, 50, or 100 seconds, or maybe in the order of minutes, such as every 1, 2, 3, 5, or 10 minutes. Thedevice remains as long as the timer has not lapsed in a ‘Timer Elapsed?’step 305 c. Upon an expiration of the timer, the device reverts to the‘Send Heartbeat’ step 305 a, and the process is resumed.

The congestion related activities of a device is shown in a flowchart310 a in FIG. 31, showing the flowchart 308, including the ‘ONLINE’flowchart 308, describing to the device activity while in the ‘ONLINE’state 302, and the ‘CONGESTED’ flowchart 307 describing the deviceactivity while in the ‘CONGESTED’ state 303. The congestion relatedmechanism may also use heartbeat scheme, where the congestion state isperiodically checked and reported. Upon entering the ‘ONLINE’ step 302(corresponding to the ‘ONLINE’ state 302 in the state diagram 300), thedevice sends a message regarding its availability in a ‘SendNon-Congested’ step 308 a. The device remains in a ‘Congested?’ step 308b, as long as no congestion is detected. Upon detecting a congestionstate, the device shifts to ‘CONGESTED’ state 303 and executes a‘CONGESTED’ flowchart 307, starting with notifying its status ascongested, in a ‘Send Congested’ step 307 a. As long as the congestioncondition is detected, the device stays in a ‘Congested?’ step 307 b.When the congestion criterion is not met anymore, the device reverts tonormal operation in the “ONLINE’ state 302 and executes the ‘SendNon-Congested’ step 308 a.

A device that monitors or tracks the status a tracked device (thatexecutes the flowchart 310 and the flowchart 310 a) may execute theflowchart 320 shown in FIG. 32. In a ‘Message Received?’ step 321 f thetracking device checks for receiving any message from the trackeddevice, which may be following the flowchart 310 and the flowchart 310 ain FIG. 31. In a ‘Congested Message?’ step 321 a, the received messagetype is checked. The received message may indicate that the trackeddevice is congested, for example, send the ‘congested’ message in the‘Send Congested’ step 307 a in the flowchart 307. In such a case, thetracked device status is marked as ‘congested’ in a ‘Mark as Congested’step 321 c, and the system or the tracking device may hold any furtherworkload, or request for any service, relating to the tracked device.The received message may indicate that the tracked device is online, forexample initiated as part of a ‘Send Heartbeat’ step 305 a, as part ofthe ‘Send Non-Congested’ step 308 a, or any other message indicatingproper operation of the tracked device. In such a case, the trackeddevice status is marked as ‘online’ in a ‘Mark as Online’ step 321 b,and the tracked device is assumed available to provide services, receivemessages, or response to requests. In a ‘Start Timer’ step 321 e, atimer configured to respond after a time interval has elapsed istriggered, similar to the timer described in the flowchart 305 in FIG.31. In one example, the time interval measured by the timer starting atthe ‘Start Timer’ step 321 e may be the same as the time intervalmeasured by the timer operated in the flowchart 305. Alternatively, thetracking device timer may be used to measure longer time interval, suchas 5%, 10%, or 120% longer than the tracked device timer, allowing foran error margin. In the case a message is received in the ‘MessageReceived?’ step 321 f, the message is checked and the tracked devicestatus is validated as described above. In the case no message isreceived from the tracked device, as noted in the ‘Timer Elapsed?’ step321 g, it is assumed that the heartbeat mechanism of the tracked deviceshows as the flowchart 305 is inoperative, hence in a ‘Mark as Offline’step 321 h the tracked device is assumed to be inoperative, and thus notavailable for any services or requests.

In one example, all the devices herein (including server devices) in thesystem are tracked and are executing the tracked device flowchart 310and the flowchart 310 a in FIG. 31. Alternatively or in addition, allthe devices in a system (including server devices) are tracking otherdevices and execute the tracking device flowcharts 320 in FIG. 32. Inone example, the client devices, such as client device #1 31 a and theclient device #2 31 b are the tracked devices, and thus execute thetracked device flowchart 310 and the flowchart 310 a in FIG. 31, and thetracking devices are the tunnel devices (such as the tunnel device #1 33a, the tunnel device #2 33 b, and the tunnel device #3 33 c) and theacceleration server 32, each executing the tracking device flowcharts320 in FIG. 32. Alternatively or in addition, the tunnel devices (suchas the tunnel device #1 33 a, the tunnel device #2 33 b, and the tunneldevice #3 33 c) are the tracked devices, and thus execute the trackeddevice flowchart 310 and the flowchart 310 a in FIG. 31, and thetracking devices are the client devices (such as client device #1 31 aand the client device #2 31 b) and the acceleration server 32, eachexecuting the tracking device flowcharts 320 in FIG. 32. An example ofthe acceleration server 32 keeping a status of client devices and tunneldevices is shown as a column ‘status’ 41 e in the table 40 in FIG. 5a ,where the first row 42 a entry shows that the associated tunnel is in an‘online’ state, the second row 42 b entry shows that the associatedtunnel is in a ‘congested’ state, the third row 42 c entry shows thatthe associated client is in an ‘online’ state, the fourth row 42 d entryshows that the associated client is in an ‘offline’ state, and the fifthrow 42 e entry shows that the associated client/tunnel is in a‘congested’ state. When the acceleration server 32 prepares a list oftunnel devices to be used as part of the ‘Prepare List’ step 81 e in theflowchart 80, tunnel devices that are ‘offline’ and tunnel devices thatare congested (such as the tunnel device associated with the entry ofthe second row 42 b in the table 40) are not used, and are not includedis the tunnel devices list sent to the requesting client device as partof the ‘Send List’ step 81 f in the flowchart 80.

In one example, the client devices, such as client device #1 201 a isthe tracked devices, and thus execute the tracked device flowchart 310and the flowchart 310 a in FIG. 31, and the tracking devices are theagent devices (such as the agent device #1 103 a, the agent device #2103 b, and the agent device #3 103 c), the peer devices (such as thepeer device #1 102 a, the peer device #2 102 b, and the peer device #3102 c), and the acceleration server 202, each executing the trackingdevice flowcharts 320 in FIG. 32. Alternatively or in addition, theagent devices (such as the agent device #1 103 a, the agent device #2103 b, and the agent device #3 103 c) are the tracked devices, and thusexecute the tracked device flowchart 310 and the flowchart 310 a in FIG.31, and the tracking devices are the client devices (such as clientdevice #1 201 a), the peer devices (such as the peer device #1 102 a,the peer device #2 102 b, and the peer device #3 102 c), and theacceleration server 202, each executing the tracking device flowchart320 in FIG. 32. Alternatively or in addition, the peer devices (such asthe peer device #1 102 a, the peer device #2 102 b, and the peer device#3 102 c) are the tracked devices, and thus execute the tracked deviceflowchart 310 and the flowchart 310 a in FIG. 31, and the trackingdevices are the client devices (such as client device #1 201 a), theagent devices (such as the agent device #1 103 a, the agent device #2103 b, and the agent device #3 103 c), and the acceleration server 202,each executing the tracking device flowchart 320 in FIG. 32. In such asystem, an agent device or a peer device, that is either congested oroffline, is not selected to provide a service to a client device. Forexample non-online agent devices are not selected as part of the ‘SelectAgents’ step 231 f in the flowchart 230, and non-online peer devices arenot selected as part of the ‘Select Peers’ step 238 a in the flowchart230.

A device may be selected to provide a service, such as a tunnel devicethat may be selected (alone or as part of a group) by a client device aspart of the ‘Select Tunnels’ step 101 a in the flowchart 100. Theselected tunnel device may shift to the ‘offline’ state 301 or to the‘congested’ state 303, and thus respectively becomes unavailable or lesseffective to use. In such a case, a new tunnel device, that was notformerly selected, may be now selected as a substitute for the ‘offline’or ‘congested’ tunnel device as part of a ‘Replace Device’ step 321 d.Similarly, an agent device may be selected (alone or as part of a group)by a client device as part of the ‘Select Agents’ step 231 f in theflowchart 230. The selected agent device may shift to the ‘offline’state 301 or to the ‘congested’ state 303, and thus respectively becomesunavailable or less effective to use. In such a case, a new agentdevice, that was not formerly selected, may be now selected as asubstitute for the ‘offline’ or ‘congested’ agent device as part of a‘Replace Device’ step 321 d. Alternatively or in addition, a peer devicemay be selected (alone or as part of a group) by a client device as partof the ‘Select Peers’ step 238 a in the flowchart 230 b. The selectedpeer device may shift to the ‘offline’ state 301 or to the ‘congested’state 303, and thus respectively becomes unavailable or less effectiveto use. In such a case, a new peer device, that was not formerlyselected, may be now selected as a substitute for the ‘offline’ or‘congested’ peer device as part of a ‘Replace Device’ step 321 d.

Alternatively or in addition, in the case where multiple devices areselected to provide a service, such as a group of multiple tunneldevices, a group of multiple agent devices, or a group of multiple peerdevices, the unavailability of a single device or multiple devices inthe group (due to shifting to ‘offline’ state 301 or to ‘congested’state 303), may not be handled or corrected, as long as a performancecriterion or a threshold is not crossed. For example, assume 5 tunneldevices are assigned to a client device in the ‘Select Tunnels’ step 101a, where the system set a criterion of a minimum of 3 operative tunneldevices. Hence, as long as at least 3 tunnel devices are available andoperational, no corrective action will be taken, and no devices will bereplaced as part of the ‘Replace Device’ step 321 d. Hence, even in thecase of two tunnel devices becoming unavailable or congested, no newtunnel devices will be provided to fetch content for the applicableclient device. However, in such a case, if 3 tunnel devices becomeunavailable rendering only 2 in operational (online) state, at least onenew tunnel device will be selected (according to any criterion describedherein) and will be used as a replacement as part of the ‘ReplaceDevice’ step 321 d.

The system 30 shown in FIG. 5 above describes the components involved infetching content using tunnel devices. The system 30 comprises theacceleration server 32, which may execute a part of, or the whole of,the acceleration server tunnel-related flowcharts, such as the flowchart80 shown in FIG. 8 or the flowchart 90 shown in FIG. 9. Further, thesystem 30 comprises client devices such as the client device #1 31 a andthe client device #2 31 b, each of which may execute a part of, or thewhole of, the client device related flowcharts, such as the flowchart 60shown in FIG. 6, the flowchart 100 shown in FIG. 10, or the flowchart100 a shown in FIG. 10a . In addition, the system 30 comprises tunneldevices such as the tunnel device #1 33 a, the tunnel device #2 33 b,and the tunnel device #3 33 c, each of which may execute a part of, orthe whole of, the tunnel device related flowcharts, such as theflowchart 70 shown in FIG. 7.

Similarly, the system 200 shown in FIG. 20 above describes thecomponents involved in fetching content using agent and peer devices.The system 200 comprises the acceleration server 202, which may executea part of, or the whole of, the acceleration server agent/peer relatedflowcharts, such as the flowchart 250 shown in FIG. 25. Further, thesystem 200 comprises client devices such as the client device #1 201 a,which may execute a part of, or the whole of, the client device relatedflowcharts, such as the flowchart 230 shown in FIG. 23, the flowchart230 a shown in FIG. 23a , or the flowchart 230 b shown in FIG. 23b . Inaddition, the system 200 comprises agent devices such as the agentdevice #1 103 a and the agent device #2 103 b, each of which may executea part of, or the whole of, the agent device related flowcharts, such asthe flowchart 240 shown in FIG. 24. Furthermore, the system 200comprises peer devices such as the peer device #1 102 a, the peer device#2 103 b, and the peer device #3 103 c, each of which may execute a partof, or the whole of, the agent device related flowcharts, such as theflowchart 240 a shown in FIG. 24 a.

Any network element in the system may be a dedicated device that assumesonly a single role, and thus being only a client (using tunnels), atunnel, a client (using agents/peers), an agent, or a peer device.Alternatively or in addition, a network element may be capable ofassuming two or more roles, either at different times or simultaneously,from the list of roles including a client (using tunnels), a tunnel, aclient (using agents/peers), an agent, or a peer device. Alternativelyor in addition, a device may be capable of assuming all of the aboveroles. Further, the same server may be both the tunnels-relatedacceleration server 32 and the peer/agent related acceleration server202, either simultaneously or at different times. Alternately, two (ormore) distinct servers may be used.

Referring to a system 340 shown in FIG. 34, integrating both the system30 shown in FIG. 5 and the system 200 shown in FIG. 20. Using such asystem, content may be fetched using either tunnel devices, asdescribed, for example, in the timing and messaging chart 50 shown inFIG. 5b , or using agent and peer devices as described, for example, inthe timing and messaging chart 220 shown in FIG. 22, or both methodstogether. A client device such as a client device #1 341 may assume therole of the tunnel-using client device #1 31 a, the role of theagent/peers-using client device #1 201 a, or both. Such a dual-functionclient device may execute the flowchart 330 shown in FIG. 33, which isbased on using one of the methods described herein, or both.

The client device 341 in the system 340 may use tunnel devices andassume the role of the client device #1 31 a, may use peer/agent devicesand assume the role of the client device #1 201 a, or may use bothmethods, as shown in a flow chart 330 shown in FIG. 33. Upon a contentrequest, the method starts in a ‘START’ step 331 a. First, it is checkedin a ‘Locally Cached?’ step 331 c if the requested content is availablein the client device #1 341 itself, for example in its cache or anyavailable storage. In one example, the content may be available in thecache memory, since the content was fetched in a past transaction andstored in the device, such as in ‘Store Content’ step 145 as a part ofthe flowchart 140 in FIG. 14, or in a ‘Store Content’ step 235 a as apart of the flowchart 230 a. In the case of locally available content,the content is fetched from the cache (or any other storage) as part ofa ‘Fetch from Local cache’ step 331 b. In the case the requested contentis not locally available at the device, the client device #1 341 maycheck in a ‘Direct Fetch?’ step 331 d the possibility of directlyaccessing a data server (such as the data server #1 22 a) storing thecontent. In one example, such directly approaching the data serverwithout using any intermediate devices such as using tunnel devices, orfetching the content from peer devices, may result in less overhead andhandling, and sometimes may be faster. In the case of direct fetching,the client device #1 341 accesses and fetch the requested contentdirectly from the data server in a ‘Fetch from Server’ step 331 e.

If the direct fetching is not selected, then in a ‘Method Select’ step331 f, the device selects which content fetching method to use. Theselection of which method to use may be based on estimation of thelatency associated with each method until the content is fully fetched.In one example, a method may be selected when the estimated latencyusing the other method is substantially longer. The client device #1 341may select to only use tunnel devices (‘Tunnels Only’), and in thisscenario, it will execute the tunnels-using client device flowchart(such as the flowchart 60 in FIG. 6) as part of a ‘Tunnel Flowchart’step 331 i. In one example, the estimated latency using the tunnel-basedmethod may not apply in reality, and may be much longer than estimated.In such a case, it may be beneficial to revert to the other method,which may be faster. Hence, a timer may be used in order to assess inreal-time the latency associated with a method, in order to reconsiderwhich method to use. Such a Timer #3 is set to the estimated latencyexpected in the tunnels-using method, preferably with an additionalmargin to allow for estimation errors or inaccuracies. The Timer #3starts in a ‘Timer #3 Start’ step 331 g, before or in parallel thestarting of the tunnel-using method in the ‘Tunnel Flowchart’ step 331i. In the case the content fetching in the ‘Tunnel Flowchart’ step 331 iis completed before the timer #3 expiration, the selected method hassucceeded to fetch the content in full and the process is completed. Inthe case where the Timer #3 expires in a ‘Timer #3 Expired’ step 331 lbefore content fetching completion, the tunnel-based method in the‘Tunnel Flowchart’ step 331 i may be stopped in ‘Stop Tunnel’ step 331 jin order to save resources (such as processing power), and the ‘PeerFlowchart’ step 331 h is initiated, executing the alternate method forfetching the content.

Alternatively, the client device #1 341 may select to only usepeer/agent devices (‘Peers Only’), and in this scenario, it will executethe peers/agents-using client device flowchart (such as the flowchart230 in FIG. 23 and the flowchart 230 a in FIG. 23a ) as part of a ‘PeerFlowchart’ step 331 h. In one example, the estimated latency using thetunnel-based method may not apply in reality, and may be much longerthan estimated. In such a case, it may be beneficial to revert to theother method, which may be faster. Hence, a timer may be used in orderto assess in real-time the latency associated with a method, in order toreconsider which method to use. Such a Timer #4 is set to the estimatedlatency expected in the peers/agents-using method, preferably with anadditional margin to allow for estimation errors or inaccuracies. TheTimer #4 starts in a ‘Timer #4 Start’ step 331 n, before or in parallelto the starting of the peers/agents-using the method in the ‘PeersFlowchart’ step 331 h. In the case the content fetching in the ‘PeerFlowchart’ step 331 h is completed before the timer #4 expiration, theselected method has succeeded to fetch the content in full and theprocess is completed. In the case where the Timer #4 expires in a ‘Timer#4 Expired’ step 331 m before content fetching completion, thepeers/agents-based method in the ‘Peer Flowchart’ step 331 h may bestopped in a ‘Stop Peer’ step 331 k in order to save resources (such asprocessing power), and the ‘Tunnel Flowchart’ step 331 i is initiated,executing the alternate method for fetching the content. Alternativelyor in addition, the client device #1 341 may select to use both methods(‘Both’), and such to simultaneously execute both the tunnels-usingclient device flowchart (such as the flowchart 60 in FIG. 6) as part ofthe ‘Tunnel Flowchart’ step 331 i, and the peers/agents-using clientdevice flowchart (such as the flowchart 230 in FIG. 23 and the flowchart230 a in FIG. 23a ) as part of the ‘Peer Flowchart’ step 331 h. The twomethods are executed in parallel, and one of them is completed beforethe other. In the case using of tunnels is faster than using peer/agentdevices, the content will be fetched in full using this method, and the‘Tunnel Flowchart’ step 331 i will be completed first. In such a case,in a ‘Stop Peer’ step 331 k the peer/agent using method executed as partof the ‘Peer Flowchart’ step 331 h is not needed anymore (since thecontent was fetched in full) and is stopped, in order to save processingpower and bandwidth. Similarly, In the case the using peers/agents isfaster than using tunnel devices, the content will be fetched in fullusing this method, and the ‘Peer Flowchart’ step 331 h will be completedfirst. In such a case, in a ‘Stop Tunnel’ step 331 j the tunnels-usingmethod executed as part of the ‘Tunnel Flowchart’ step 331 i is notneeded anymore (since the content was fetched in full) and is stopped,in order to save processing power and bandwidth.

A content fetched or sent by a network element may consist of, orinclude, video data. Video data fetched via the Internet are typicallyidentified by a set of characters, including three fields, relating to aURL domain name, a specific video identifier, and offset, relating tothe viewing point in the video data itself. For example, in a videoidentifier such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mSb3P7cZIE? ST=1:48,the field ‘https://www.youtube.com’ is the URL domain, which identifythe server from which the video can be fetched, the part ‘9mSb3P7cZIE’identifies the video data (such as a movie) as a whole, and the offset‘1:48’ part in the video starting point, in this example after 1 minuteand 48 seconds after the video start point. The offset may be presented(as part of the video identifier) in time using another format such as#T=3M54S (denoting starting point after 3 minutes and 54 seconds) isbytes (such as B=10344, denoting a starting point after 10344 bytes),relative offset (such as in %, such as R=54.3, denoting that thestarting point is after 54.3% of the total video length, such as byte543 out of 100 bytes sized video content)), and various other methods.In the case the content to be fetched is a video data, while the videocontent may be located in other network elements, it may be identifieddifferently than the requested URL or content identifier, and as suchmay not be easily fetched. In one example, in order to form a commonmethod for identification of a video-related URL, the offset is detected(e.g., by the ‘/’ symbol, or by the identifying the offset format, orboth), and the URL is stored (such as in a cache) identified as thedomain name and the video data identifier only, where the offset isstored as additional separate attribute. In one example, the offsetpresentation is normalized to a common format, which is understood byall of the network elements.

A flowchart 410 shown in FIG. 43 describes a method for forming aunified identifying scheme for video content. The video-related contentis received (or requested) by a network element in a ‘URL Received’ step411 a. In a ‘Remove Offset’ step 411 b, the offset part of the URL isdetected and removed, such as by detecting the ‘/’ symbol, or by theidentifying the offset format, or both. A direct request for the videocontent is sent to a respective data server (such as the data server #122 a) in a ‘Send Request To Server’ step 411 c. Typically, the initialpart of the data server response includes meta-data information,including the content length, in a form of time (such as hours, minutes,and seconds) or size (such as in bytes). Once the content size or lengthinformation is received, there is no need for any communication with thedata server, and the communication session is terminated in a ‘TerminateServer’ step 411 e. The content size or length information is used forunifying the form of the video identifier in a ‘Normalize Offset’ step411 f. For example, a unified scheme may include relating offset, so avideo file that start at byte 345 out of 1000 total bytes will beidentified as 34.5% (345/1000), and a video file that starts after 1minute 30 second (1:30) out of a total of 10 minutes will be identifiedas 15%. Similarly, files that do not end at the video end may also beaccordingly identified. For example, a video file that starts after 2minutes and ends after 7 minutes, will be identified as 20-70%. In sucha unified scheme, a network element may store (such as in a cache), orrequest, parts of a video file by using the common identificationscheme. For example, a network element that stores the range from 1minute to 22 minutes out of a video file, may respond to a requestasking for the range of minute 15 to minute 17.

IP-based geolocation (commonly known as geolocation) is a mapping of anIP address (or MAC address) to the real-world geographic location of acomputing device or a mobile device connected to the Internet. The IPaddress based location data may include information such as country,region, city, postal/zip code, latitude, longitude, or Timezone. Deeperdata sets can determine other parameters such as domain name, connectionspeed, ISP, language, proxies, company name, US DMA/MSA, NAICS codes,and home/business classification. The geolocation is further describedin the publication entitled: “Towards Street-Level Client-Independent IPGeolocation” by Yong Wang et al., downloaded from the Internet on July2014, and in an Information Systems Audit and Control Association(ISACA) 2011 white-paper entitled: “Geolocation: Risk, Issues andStrategies”, which are both incorporated in their entirety for allpurposes as if fully set forth herein. There are a number ofcommercially available geolocation databases, such as a web-sitehttp://www.ip2location.com operated by Ip2location.com headquartered inPenang, Malaysia, offering IP geolocation software applications, andgeolocation databases may be obtained from IpInfoDB operating web-sitehttp://ipinfodb.com, and by Max Mind, Inc., based in Waltham, Mass.,U.S.A., operating the web-site https://wwiw.maxmind.com/en/home.

Further, the W3C Geolocation API is an effort by the World Wide WebConsortium (W3C) to standardize an interface to retrieve thegeographical location information for a client-side device. It defines aset of objects, ECMA Script standard compliant, that executing in theclient application give the client's device location through theconsulting of Location Information Servers, which are transparent forthe Application Programming Interface (API). The most common sources oflocation information are IP address, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth MAC address,radio-frequency identification (RFID), Wi-Fi connection location, ordevice Global Positioning System (GPS) and GSM/CDMA cell IDs. Thelocation is returned with a given accuracy depending on the bestlocation information source available. The W3C Recommendation for thegeolocation API specifications draft dated Oct. 24, 2013, is availablefrom the web-sitehttp://www.w3.org/TR/2013/REC-geolocation-API-20131024.Geolocation-based addressing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,929,535 toChen et al., entitled: “Geolocation-based Addressing Method for IPv6Addresses”, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,236,652 to Preston et al., entitled:“Geo-spacial Internet Protocol Addressing”, and in U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2005/0018645 to Mustonen et al., entitled:“Utilization of Geographic Location Information in IP Addressing”, whichare all incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully setforth herein.

Geolocation may be used by any network element. The peer devicesdescribed above as storing a content (chunks) that is required by aclient device, and thus the client device fetches the content from thepeer devices rather than directly from the web server (or in addition toit). In some cases, multiple devices are available storing unknowncontent which may be the content required by a client device. Thegeolocation may be used to determine which available devices may be, orare expected to be, storing the content that is requested. In thiscontext, two Internet-connected devices, each identified by a respectiveIP address, for example, are considered as being ‘close’ if there is alikelihood that the same content is stored in both, or that both devicesfetched the same content from a data server. Similarly, two devices areconsidered closer than the other two devices if there is a higherlikelihood that they store the same content (from the same data server).

Referring now to FIG. 35 showing a flowchart 350, which may be executedby any network element, describing a method for selecting devices basedon a geolocation and on location-specific attributes, for use by arequesting device, interested in obtaining a content from a data server.In a ‘Receive IP List’ step 351 a list of devices available to selectfrom is obtained. In one example, the devices may be identified by theirrespective IP addresses. In an ‘Associate Location’ step 352, the IPaddress of each of the devices is used to obtain the physicalgeographical location of the device using any geolocation schemes, suchas looking up a local database stored in the requesting device, or usinga remote database via the Internet. The physical geographical locationmay include a country, region (such as state or county), city,postal/zip code, latitude, longitude, or timezone. In a ‘Select Devices’step 354, one or more devices are selected from the list.

In one example, the selection is based only on the obtained thegeographical location. In one example, such selection may be based onthe physical geographical location of the requesting device (obtainedlocally at the requesting device or by using a geolocation), a physicalgeographical location of the data server storing a content that isrequested (obtained locally or by using geolocation), or relating tophysical geographical location of IP addressable, Internet connecteddevice. In one example, the devices may be selected based on being inthe same location, such as in the same continent, country, region, city,street, or timezone. The devices may be selected from the list based onthe physical geographical distance, where ‘closeness’ is defined asbased on actual geographical distance between devices, where shorterdistance indicates closer devices. For example, is the case where thelatitude and the longitude are obtained, the physical distance betweeneach device in the list and the requesting device (or the data server oranother device) may be calculated, and the nearest device will be firstselected, then the second nearest device, and so on. Alternatively or inaddition, devices in the same city (or street) as the requesting deviceare considered as the closest and may be first selected, then thedevices that are in the same region or country may be considered asclose and may be selected next.

In one example, an attribute is used as a basis for defining ‘closeness’in the ‘Select Devices’ step 354, and each device is associated with anattribute value based on its geographical physical location, in an‘Associate Attribute’ step 353. The information relating to the variousattributes can be obtained from a database that is local to therequesting device, or may be publicly available via the Internet, usingcity, region, or country based databases. In one example, country basedinformation may be obtained via the Internet, such as ‘The WorldFactbook’ website by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) having aURL:“https://www.cia.gov/iibrary/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/notesanddefs.html?fieldkey=2113&alphaletter=G&term=Geography-note”,and the United Nations Statistics Division website: https://data.un.org.

One example of such an attribute is the language that is widely spoken(or is the formal language) in a geographical location, such as in acountry. In this aspect, while Portugal is geographically closer toGermany than to Brazil, using the language as the selection attributesuggest that Portugal is ‘closer’ to Brazil, since the Portugueselanguage is popular in both these countries, and Portuguese—speakingPortugal is language-wise distant from German-speaking Germany.Similarly, Arabic-spoken countries are close to each other, regardlessof the actual geographical distance. Such ‘closeness’ definition issupported, since a web-site or URL having a content (such as text, audioor video) in Portuguese language, is likely to be accessed by users fromBrazil and Portugal, and less likely to be accessed by users located inGermany.

Another example of an attribute is the popular sport type in thegeographical location. For example, soccer is most popular in Brazil andin Germany, while American football is popular in the U.S. Regardingthis aspect, Brazil is considered to be closer to Germany than to theU.S., as it is expected that web-sites associated with soccer will bemore popular with users in Germany and Brazil rather than with user inNorth-America. Another example of an attribute is the religion popularin a region or a country. In this aspect, Turkey and Egypt, both beingIslamic countries, are religion-wise closer than Turkey and Greece,having different dominant religion, in spite of their geographicalproximity. For example, web-site offering Islamic-related content arelikely to be more popular in Turkey and Egypt, rather than in Greece.

Other attributes relating to people and society may include race andethnic groups, and demographic or social characteristics, such aspopulation, age structure, population growth rate, death rate, birthrate, migration rate, sex ratio, life expectancy, and healthexpenditures. Other attributes may include economical-relatedcharacteristics (of a location or a country), such as Gross DomesticProduct (GDP), GDP per capita (PPP), gross national saving, agricultureproducts, industry types, labor force, unemployment rate, householdincome or consumption by percentage share, Government budget, taxes andother revenues, inflation rate (consumer prices), export/import of goodsand services, household consumption, government consumption, andinvestment in fixed capital.

Another example of an attribute is the weather in a location or acountry. Countries or locations associated with cold weather are beingconsidered weather-wise closer than locations having distinct anddifferent weather. For example, web-sites relating to ski resorts orsnow related equipment are likely to be more popular in cold weathercountries than countries having a desert climate. Similarly, web-sitesrelating to cooling equipment (such as air conditioners) are likely tobe more popular in warm weather locations and countries. In addition toclimate, other geographical related characteristics include having acoastline, terrain, natural resources, and environment.

In one example, the following demographic attributes or categories canbe used: Gender, such as male or female; age, such as the age groups0-11, 12-17, 18-20, 21-24, 25-34, 35-49, 50-54, 55-64, and 65-99; income(in US $, for example) such as 0-24,999, 25,000-49,999, 50,000-74,999,75,000-99,999, 100,000-149,000, and 150,000 and up; education such assome High School, High School Graduate, Home College, Associates Degree,Bachelor's Degree, and Post Graduate; occupation such as administrativeor Clerical, Craftsman, Educators, Executive, Laborer, Homemaker,Military, Professional, Sales, Service, Student, Technical,Self-employed, and Retired; race such as Hispanic, Non-Hispanic, AfricanAmerican, Caucasian, Asian, and Native American. Alternatively or inaddition, the following psychographic categories may be used: Travel,such as Air, Car Rental, Lodging; Reservations; and Maps;Finance/Investments such as Banking Brokers, Quotes, Insurance, andMortgage; sports, such as Auto Racing, Baseball, Basketball, FantasySports, Football, Hockey, Soccer, Golf, and Tennis; recreation & hobbiessuch as Cycling, Golf, Hiking, Sailing, Snow, Sports, Surfing, Tennis,Home & Garden, Pets, Genealogy, Photography, Games, and Toys;entertainment such as Movies/Film, Music, Theater, TV/Video, Sci-Fi,Humor, Games, and Toys; auto such as Trucks, SUV, and Sports car; newsand information such as Magazines and Weather; politics such as Democratand Republican; E-shopping such as Groceries, Furniture, Auctions,Cards/Gifts, Apparel, Books, Music, TV/Video; Software such asE-purchasing and Computers; Science; Employment; health & fitness;Medical; Pharmacy; Dating/Single; Advice; Beauty; Weddings; Maternity;or Spirituality/Religion such as Astrology. An example of profiling webusers is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,108,245 to Hosea et al., entitled:“Method and System for Web User Profiling and Selective ContentDelivery”, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as iffully set forth herein.

A bitmap (a.k.a. bit array or bitmap index) is a mapping from somedomain (for example, a range of integers) to bits (values that are zeroor one). In computer graphics, when the domain is a rectangle (indexedby two coordinates) a bitmap gives a way to store a binary image, thatis, an image in which each pixel is either black or white (or any twocolors). More generally, the term ‘bitmap’ is used herein to include,but not limited to, a pixmap, which refers to a map of pixels, whereeach one may store more than two colors, thus using more than one bitper pixel. A bitmap is a type of memory organization or image fileformat used to store digital images.

In typical uncompressed bitmaps, image pixels are generally stored witha color depth of 1, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, 48, or 64 bits per pixel. Pixelsof 8 bits and fewer can represent either grayscale or indexed color. Analpha channel (for transparency) may be stored in a separate bitmap,where it is similar to a grayscale bitmap, or in a fourth channel that,for example, converts 24-bit images to 32 bits per pixel. The bitsrepresenting the bitmap pixels may be packed or unpacked (spaced out tobyte or word boundaries), depending on the format or devicerequirements. Depending on the color depth, a pixel in the picture willoccupy at least n/8 bytes, where n is the bit depth. For anuncompressed, packed within rows, bitmap, such as is stored in MicrosoftDIB or BMP file format, or in uncompressed TIFF format, a lower bound onstorage size for a n-bit-per-pixel (2n colors) bitmap, in bytes, can becalculated as: size=width*height*n/8, where height and width are givenin pixels. In the formula above, header size and color palette size, ifany, are not included.

The BMP file format, also known as bitmap image file or DeviceIndependent Bitmap (DIB) file format or simply a bitmap, is a rastergraphics image file format used to store bitmap digital images,independently of the display device (such as a graphics adapter),especially on Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems. The BMP fileformat is capable of storing 2D digital images of arbitrary width,height, and resolution, both monochrome and color, in various colordepths, and optionally with data compression, alpha channels, and colorprofiles. The Windows Metafile (WMF) specification covers the BMP fileformat.

An image scaling is the process of resizing a digital image. Scaling isa non-trivial process that involves a trade-off between efficiency,smoothness and sharpness. With bitmap graphics, as the size of an imageis reduced or enlarged, the pixels that form the image becomeincreasingly visible, making the image appear “soft” if pixels areaveraged, or jagged if not. With vector graphics, the trade-off may bein processing power for re-rendering the image, which may be noticeableas slow re-rendering with still graphics, or slower frame rate and frameskipping in computer animation.

Apart from fitting a smaller display area, image size is most commonlydecreased (or subsampled or downsampled) in order to produce thumbnails.Enlarging an image (upsampling or interpolating) is generally common formaking smaller imagery fit a bigger screen in fullscreen mode, forexample. In “zooming” a bitmap image, it is not possible to discover anymore information in the image than already exists, and image qualityinevitably suffers. However, there are several methods of increasing thenumber of pixels that an image contains, which evens out the appearanceof the original pixels. Typically scaling of an image, such as enlargingor reducing the image, involves manipulation of one or more pixels ofthe original image into one or more pixels in the target image. In manyapplications, image scaling is required to be executed in real-time,requiring processing power. Scaling or resizing of an image is typicallymeasured as the ratio (in %, for example) of the number of pixels of theresulting image relative to the number of pixels in the original image.Some image scaling schemes are simple and may be quickly and efficientlyprocessed, such as the examples shown in FIG. 36a . An original image isshown in grid 362 a, including an exemplary pixel 363, and the imageafter image scaling of 400% is shown as grid 362 b, where the singlepixel 363 is manipulated into four pixels 363 a, 363 b, 363 c, and 363 darranged as a 2×2 square matrix. Similarly, each of the pixels in theoriginal image is converted into 4 pixels arranged as a square, whereall the newly generated pixels have the same bit value (‘0’ or ‘1’) in abitmap, or the color value in case of multiple bits per pixel.Similarly, an original image is shown in grid 365 a, including anexemplary pixel 364, and the image after image scaling of 900% is shownas grid 365 b, where the single pixel 364 is manipulated into ninepixels 364 a, 364 b, 364 c, 364 d, 364 e, 364 f, 364 g, 364 h, and 364 iarranged as a 3×3 square. Similarly, each of the pixels in the originalimage is converted into 9 pixels arranged as a square, where all thenewly generated pixels have the same bit value (‘0’ or ‘1’) in a bitmap,or the color value in case of multiple bits per pixel.

Some image reduction schemes are simple and may be quickly andefficiently processed, such as the examples shown in FIG. 36b . Anoriginal image is shown in grid 366 b, including an exemplary 4 pixels368 a, 368 b, 368 c, and 369 d arranged as a 2×2 square, and the imageafter image downscaling of 25% is shown as grid 366 a, where a singlepixel 368 is represents the four pixels. Similarly, each group of 2×2pixels in the original image is converted into a single pixel, where allthe newly generated pixels are an average of the original 4 pixels value(‘0’ or ‘1’ in a bitmap, or the color value in case of multiple bits perpixel). Similarly, an original image is shown in a grid 367 b, includingan exemplary 9 pixels 369 a, 369 b, 369 c, 369 d, 369 e, 369 f, 369 g,369 h, and 369 i, arranged as a 3×3 square, and the image after imagedownscaling of 1/9 (11.11%) is shown as a single pixel 369 in the grid367 a, where the single pixel 369 represents the 9 pixels. Similarly,each 3×3 pixels matrix in the original image is converted into a singlepixel, where all the newly generated pixel is an average of the original9 pixel value (‘0’ or ‘1’ in a bitmap, or the color value in case ofmultiple bits per pixel).

Referring now to a flowchart 360 in FIG. 36, which may be executed byany network element, describing a method for combining quick scalingschemes with another scaling scheme, for achieving quicker and moreefficient downscaling scheme. The original image, designated as IMG(0)and the scaling requested (in %) is obtained in a ‘Receive IMG(0),Scaling (%)’ step 361 a. The parameter N is zeroed in an ‘N←0’ step 361b, denoting the flowchart initial state. If the scaling required isabove 50% as is checked in a ‘Scaling >50%?’ step 361 c, then thecurrent image in the N-th cycle designated as IMG(N), is scaled usingany scaling or resizing method in a ‘Scale IMG(N)’ step 361 d, and themethod ends in an ‘END’ step 361 e. In the case the scaling required isbelow 50%, a 50% scaling is executed using a quick and simple scalingscheme as described above, in a ‘Scale 50%’ step 361 f. The cyclecounter N is raised by 1 in a ‘N←N+1’ step 361 g, and then the image isscaled 200% and the requested scaling (received in the initial ‘ReceiveIMG(0), Scaling (%)’ step 361 a) is doubled, in a ‘Resize 200%,Scale←Scale*2’ step 361 h, and the process is repeated until the scalingis above 50%. In such a scheme, in case a scaling of 30% is required, ascaling of 50% will be followed by another scaling of 60% (30%*2),resulting a total of scaling of 30% as originally required.

When using a graphics-based human interface, when an element is draggedfrom a location to another location on a screen, the dragging istypically limited by the outer limits of the parent object, asschematically shown in views 370 a and 370 b in FIG. 37. In the view 370a, a box-shaped object (1) 373 is located within the area of a parentobject (2) 372, which in turn is within the area of its parent object(3) 371. A user may attempt to drag the object (1) 373 to a left bottomcorner of the screen, as illustrated by the hand 375 and the dashed line374, to a location which is external to the object (3) 371 defined area.In many cases, the dragging of the object (1) 373 may not exceed itsparent object (2) 372 periphery, and thus the dragging is limited to theleft bottom limit of the object (2) 372 as shown in view 370 b. It maybe beneficial to allow the object (1) 373 to be dragged as requested bythe user along the dragging line 374 to the left bottom corner as shownby view 370 c in FIG. 37a . In one example, such dragging external to alimited low-level object area may be executed by transferring (or‘inheriting’) the dragging request to higher level objects (such asobject (2) 372 and object (3) 371, where such dragging is allowed.

Referring now to a flowchart 380 shown in FIG. 38, which may be executedby any network element, and is schematically describing the transfer ofa dragging request to higher levels until such dragging is allowed. Theelement to be dragged is identified as an object (1) in a ‘ReceiveObject (1)’ step 381 a, located in a current located designated as(current_×, current Y), denoting the (x,y) coordinated on the screen.For example, object (1) 373 (shown in views 370 a and 370 b) and itsassociated current coordinates are identified. The new locationcoordinates, designated as (new_X, new_Y) to which the object (1) is tobe dragged (such as the drag line 374), is received in a ‘Receive NewLocation’ step 381 b, hence a requested movement can be calculated as(new_X−current_×, new_Y−current_+Y). The cycles of the flowchart 380 aremonitored by a cycle counter N, which is set to 1 at a ‘N←1’ step 381 c.

In a ‘Location Beyond Object (N+1) Limits?’ step 381 d the requested newlocation (new_×, new_Y) is checked to be within the limits of the parent(object (N+1)) of the current object (N). For example, the object (1)373 new location is checked to be within the limits of object (2) 372.In the case where the requested new location exceeds the limits of theparent (object (N+1)), the counter N in raised by 1 in a ‘N←N+1’ step381 e, and the check is repeated with the new object in a ‘LocationBeyond Object (N+1) Limits?’ step 381 d. In the example shown in view370 a, the required new location is outside the area of an object (2)372, hence the counter will be increased, and the new location will nowbe checked versus the object (3) 371. In a case where the new location(new_×, new_Y) is found to be within the limits of the parent (object(N+1)), then in a ‘Move Objects (1, 2, . . . N) to New Location’ step381 f the object (1), as well as all its parent objects, such as object(2), object (3), . . . object (N), are shifted according to draggingrequested (new_X−current_×, new_Y−current_+Y), so that the object (1)reaches the required new location (new_X, new_Y). Such movement isexampled in a view 370 c, where the object (1) 373 is shown in its newlocation, and where the object (2) 372 is shown also after being movedas required in order to allow for the object (1) 373 movement.

Any device herein may be connected to the Internet using a wirelessaccess, such as via a WLAN, such as the device 11 a shown in anarrangement 20 a in FIG. 2b . In one example shown in an arrangement 390in FIG. 39, a device 391 (which may correspond to any device or networkelement herein) may be in the range of 3 WAPs 26 b, 26 c and 26 d, whichare all password protected, and each of the WAPs is allowing connectionto the Internet. In a case where the user of the device 391 is not awareof the password, no connection to the Internet is easily available. Inan emergency, where no other communication means are available, theremay be an urgent need to communicate via one of the WAPs, such as to theInternet, for example in order to call for help. In such a case, it maybe beneficial to guess a password used by one (or more) of the WAPs, inorder to be able to communicate over the Internet (or any other networkbackbone). The device 391 may include locally (such as in storage memory25 c), or be connected to, a database 392, which may comprise a list ofpasswords that may be suitable for use with the WAPs. The database 392may be periodically updated by the device 391, or may be updated byaccessing and fetching passwords from other databases over the Internet.

A flowchart 400 in FIG. 40, which may be executed by any networkelement, describes a method for guessing passwords, for example to beused for communicating via WAPs, based on a geographical location, auser history, or a WAP vendor. Starting in a ‘Select WAP’ step 401 a,one of the WAPs is selected. In the case of a presence of a single WAP,it is the one to select. If few WAPs are available, such as in thesystem 390 shown in FIG. 39, one of the WAPs is selected, such as WAP 26b, randomly or according to set criteria. The selected WAP is thenchecked to be password protected in a ‘Password Protected?’ step 401 b.Upon detecting that the WAP is not ‘locked’ and no password is thus notrequired, a connection with the selected WAP is established in a‘Connect’ step 401 c, and the device (such as the device 391) may thencommunicate via the selected WAP (such as the WAP 26 b) over theInternet.

Commonly users or devices in a certain geographical location (such ascity or country) are more likely to use certain passwords, due to thetendency of the local population (having similar demographics, forexample), to choose similar or same words. Hence, in a case wherein theselected WAP is password-protected, the device 391 fetches from thedatabase 392 and tries various passwords associated with the localgeographical location in a ‘Location Based’ step 401 d. If one of thetried guessed password is indeed successful, and a connectivity isachieved with the selected WAP, as checked in an ‘Access?’ step 401 e,then a connection to the selected WAP is established in a ‘Connect’ step401 c, and the device (such as device 391) may then communicate via theselected WAP (such as WAP 26 b) over the Internet. In order to simplifyremembering and handling multiple passwords, users commonly use the samepassword or a minimal set of correlated passwords for many purposes.Hence, in the case none of the location based guessed passwords wasfound suitable, the device 391 fetches from database 392 a list ofpasswords that were previously used, even if used for another WAP. Ifone of the tried guessed password is indeed successful, and connectivityis achieved with the selected WAP, as checked in an ‘Access?’ step 401g, a connection with the selected WAP is established in a ‘Connect’ step401 c, and the device (such as device 391) may then communicate via theselected WAP (such as WAP 26 b) over the Internet. Typically WAPs aremanufactured and shipped having a default (vendor set) password. In manycases, the user of a WAP does not change the default password, and thedatabase 392 may store a list of such default passwords, associated withvarious manufacturers and WAP types. Typically, as part of communicatingwith a WAP, the WAP type (e.g., model number) or the WAP manufactureridentifier or name (or both), are exchanged as part of the handshakingprocess. In a ‘Vendor Based’ step 401 h, the device 391 tries a list ofpasswords based on the WAP type or vendor, or based on a list of allknown manufacturers default values. If one of the tried guessed passwordis indeed successful, and connectivity is achieved with the selectedWAP, as checked in an ‘Access?’ step 401 i, a connection with theselected WAP is established in a ‘Connect’ step 401 c, and the device(such as the device 391) may then communicate via the selected WAP (suchas the WAP 26 b) over the Internet. If none of the former passwordguessing techniques is successful, and in case other WAPs are available,the device 391 may select another WAP, such as WAP 26 c in system 390,in a ‘Select Another WAP’ step 401 j, and repeat the passwords guessingwith the newly selected WAP.

Referring to FIG. 41 showing a system 400 a, which is based on thesystem 390 shown in FIG. 39, comprising also a locked WAP 26 e and alocked WAP 26 f. The system is shown to include two devices, a device #1391 a (which may correspond to device 391 in the system 390) having apassword database 392 a in the memory, and a device #2 391 b (which mayalso correspond to device 391 in the system 390) having a passworddatabase 392 b in the memory. The device #1 391 a is located in therange of the WAP 26 d, and may communicate with this WAP over a WiFicommunication link 404 d, is located in the range of the WAP 26 b, andmay communicate with this WAP over a WiFi communication link 404 b, andis located in the range of WAP 26 c, and may communicate with this WAPover a WiFi communication link 404 c. Similarly, the device #2 391 b islocated in the range of the WAP 26 b, and may communicate with this WAPover a WiFi communication link 404 a, is located in the range of the WAP26 c, and may communicate with this WAP over a WiFi communication link404 g, is located in the range of the WAP 26 e, and may communicate withthis WAP over a WiFi communication link 404 e, and is located in therange of the WAP 26 f, and may communicate with this WAP over a WiFicommunication link 404 f. Hence, both two devices 391 a and 391 b maycommunicate with the WAPs 26 b and 26 c. The two devices may shareinformation about the authentication with these WAPs. Furthermore, anauthentication server 403 may include a database 392 c storing passwords(and other authentication means), and may share the database 392 c withthe two devices 391 a and 391 b.

For each of the communication links, a device may assign a level ofsharing, associated with the intention of a user of the device to sharethe passwords, stored in the local database or stored in the database392 c of the authentication server 403, with other users or devices. Forexample, the device #1 391 a may assign a level of ‘Private’ to thecommunication link 404 d with the WAP 26 d, denoting that the password(or other credentials) associated with this connection is not to beshared with others, for example, since the WAP 26 d is the user privatenetwork at home. Similarly, the user of the device #2 391 b may assign alevel of ‘Private’ to the communication links 404 e and 404 f.Alternatively or in addition, a device (such as the device #1 391 a orthe device #2 391 b) may assign a level of ‘Friends’ to a password,associated with an intention to share the available password with alimited number of devices or users (‘friends’), as shown regarding tocommunication links 404 c and 404 g in the system 400 a. Further, adevice (such as the device #1 391 a or the device #2 391 b) may assign alevel of ‘All’ to a password, associated with an intention to share theavailable password with any device or user, as shown regarding tocommunication links 404 a and 404 b in the system 400 a. The user andauthentication database 392 c keeps the connection levels between theusers of the system (i.e., who is friends with who). The clients updatethis central database 392 c when new authentication information about aWAP is acquired, such as when the authentication information no longerworks, or when updated or new authentication information is known. Oncedeployed in large numbers, the size of the authentication database 392 cbecomes significant and large. Thus the update from the central database392 c to the clients can be done in parts, such as loading only theinformation that a device is most likely to require, for example, tolimit the size of the database to local geography, and/or by getting allaccess points located in close proximity to all (or popular) points ofentries in various countries. For example, a device may periodicallyconnect to the central database 392 c, and may fetch therefrom an updateof list of relevant passwords, and store these passwords in the localdatabase, such as the database 392 a or 392 b. Further, the device mayalso update the central database 392 c of any new information it hasacquired regarding authentication methods (such as passwords) regardingto various WAPs. The size of the information that is loaded into thedevice may be limited, and the device may get an update onauthentication information only regarding to WAPs that may be ofinterest to that device.

A flowchart 400 b shown in FIG. 42 describes an example of the system400 a operation. In a ‘WAP connection’ step 402 a, a request from adevice (such as the device #1 391 a or the device #2 391 b) to connectto a WAP (such as the WAP 26 d or the WAP 26 f) is intercepted,typically in order to access the Internet. First, using a protocolhandshake or any other scheme, the device checks if authentication isrequired by the specific WAP, as part of an ‘Authentication Required?’step 402 b. If no authentication is required, the device may connect tothe WAP in a ‘Connect’ step 402 c. In the case the WAP requiredauthentication for connecting to, the device checks the localauthentication database (such as the database 391 a or the database 391b), as part of a ‘Locally Stored?’ step 402 d. If the relevantauthentication information is locally available, the device may connectusing this information in a ‘Connect Using Local Data’ step 402 e. Inthe case of successful connection to the WAP, as checked in a‘Successful?’ step 402 i, the device may send an update to the centraldatabase 392 c in the authentication server 403, notifying or updatingit regarding the validity and regarding the authentication informationassociated with the WAP.

In the case there is no locally available password regarding therespective WAP, the device may connect to the authentication server 403for fetching authentication information from the central database 392 c.The server 403 checks the availability of the requested password in a‘Server Stored?’ step 402 g. If no authentication information is foundto be stored in the central database 392 c, the authentication server403 accordingly replies to the requesting device. Upon receiving of theserver 403 response, the device may be prompted that no authenticationinformation is available for the WAP, in a ‘No Success’ step 402 k. Theuser then may select another WAP (if available), and repeat the process(with the newly selected WAP) as part of the ‘WAP Connection’ step 402a.

Alternatively or in addition, the device may try the password of the WAPin a ‘Guess Password’ step 402 i, and such guessing scheme may consistof, include, or be based on, the guessing method described in theflowchart 400 in FIG. 40. If the password guessing in the ‘GuessPassword’ step 402 i is successful, as checked in a ‘Successful?’ step402 j, the device may send the successfully guessed password to theserver 403 to be stored in the database 392 c, as part of an ‘UpdateDatabase’ step 402 m, so this password may be used by other devices (ifallowed) when connecting to this WAP. In the case wherein a password isstored in the central database 392 c for this WAP, the authenticationserver 403 fetches the stored password, and sends it to the requestingdevice, which then uses this password for connecting to the WAP, in a‘Receive from Server & Connect’ step 402 h. If the connection issuccessful, as checked in a ‘Successful?’ step 402 l, the device maysend a message to the server 403, notifying it that the password fetchedis indeed valid. However, if the connection is not successful, forexample, since the password was changed or is otherwise not valid, thedevice may send this information to the server 403, allowing it todelete the non-valid password from the central database 392 c, in a‘Delete from database’ step 402 n.

As part of sending the authentication server 403 a new password, such asin ‘Update Database’ step 402 m, the sending device may associate alevel of sharing with such password, such as ‘Private’ (i.e., don'tshare with anyone), Friends' (i.e., only share with friends), ‘Family’(i.e. only share with family), or ‘All’. When fetching a password fromthe central database 392 c, such as in ‘Request from Server’ step 402 f,the server 403 returns the stored password only if the requesting deviceis authorized to receive this information. For example, if the passwordis marked as ‘Friends’, only devices (or users) that are identified as‘friends’ may fetch the stored password.

Referring to an architecture 440 shown in FIG. 44, which is based on thearchitecture 430 shown in FIG. 3, describing an example of a softwareand hardware interface in a WDM-based operating system, which may bepart of any device (or server) described herein. In the arrangement 440,the device may assume the role of a tunnels-using client device (such asthe client device #1 31 a or the client device #2 31 b) and thusexecutes a ‘Client (Tunnel) Flowchart’ 441 a, which may be a part of, orthe whole of, the client device related flowcharts, such as theflowchart 60 shown in FIG. 6, the flowchart 100 shown in FIG. 10, or theflowchart 100 a shown in FIG. 10a . Alternatively or in addition, thedevice may assume the role of a Peers/Agents-using client device (suchas the client device #1 201 a) and thus executes a ‘Client (Peers)Flowchart’ 441 a, which may be a part of, or the whole of, the clientdevice related flowcharts, such as the flowcharts 230, 230 a, and 230 b,respectively shown in FIGS. 23, 23 a, and 23 b. Alternatively or inaddition, the device may assume the role of a tunnel device (such as thetunnel device #1 33 a, the tunnel device #2 33 b, or the tunnel device#3 33 c), and thus executes a ‘Tunnel Flowchart’ 441 c, which may be apart of, or the whole of, the tunnel device related flowcharts, such asthe flowchart 70 shown in FIG. 7. Alternatively or in addition, thedevice may assume the role of an agent device (such as the agent device#1 103 a, the agent device #2 103 b, or the agent device #3 103 c), andthus executes an ‘Agent Flowchart’ 441 d, which may be a part of, or thewhole of, the agent device related flowcharts, such as the flowchart 240shown in FIG. 24. Alternatively or in addition, the device may assumethe role of a peer device (such as the peer device #1 102 a, the peerdevice #2 102 b, or the peer device #3 102 c), and thus executes a ‘PeerFlowchart’ 441 e, which may be a part of, or the whole of, the agentdevice related flowcharts, such as the flowchart 240 a shown in FIG. 24a. Similarly, the device may execute a web browser application 441 f,that may use the acceleration applications above for faster operation.

While the arrangement 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a single communicationinterface 29 connecting to a LAN 14, currently many computerized devicesand systems include multiple communication interfaces, such asCommunication Interface #1 443 a, Communication Interface #2 443 b, andCommunication Interface #3 443 c, shown as part of the architecture 440(corresponding to the peripherals #1 439 a, #2 439 b, and #3 439 c,shown as part of the architecture 430 in FIG. 3). While three (3)interfaces are shown, any number of such interfaces may be equally used.Typically, each communication interface enables communication over adistinct network type, so that the multiple communication interfacesallow for concurrent communication over multiple networks. Each networkmay be a wired network, which is based on conductive medium, such as acoaxial cable, twisted-pair, powerlines, or telephone lines, or may be awireless network which is based on a non-conductive medium, and is usingRF, light, or sound guided, or any other over-the-air propagation.Further, a network may be NFC, PAN, LAN, MAN, WAN, WPAN, WLAN (such asWiFi), WMAN, or WWAN. Further, the communication may be based on acellular communication. A network may be half-duplex, full-duplex, orunidirectional, and may use modulation such as AM, FM, or PM.Furthermore, a network may be packet-based or circuit-switched. Thevarious communication interfaces and the respective protocols areserviced by the kernel space 430 b Communications Drivers Stack 442(corresponding to the drivers stack 436 shown in the architecture 430).The data to be sent or received via the communication interfaces istransferred via applicable queues serving to buffer the transferreddata, such as an OS Queue #1 443 a, an OS Queue #2 443 b, and an OSQueue #3 443 c, using underlying sockets such as a Socket #1 444 aserving OS Queue #1 443 a, a Socket #2 444 b serving OS Queue #2 443 b,and a Socket #3 444 c serving OS Queue #3 443 c. A queue (such as queue#1 443 a) may be loaded with data, such as data to be sent, and nextdata that may use the same queue may need to wait until the former datain that queue is vacated, and only then the newly introduced data willbe handled. In one example, the allocation of data to the queues may bestatic, and not changing in time. Alternatively or in addition, theallocation to the various OS queues may be adaptive. For example, at thesame time the first data is handled, another queue (such as queue #2 443b) may be empty, and thus may be used for faster handling of the newdata. An adaptive queue mechanism is described, for example, in U.S.Patent Application No. 2006/0187830 to Nam, entitled: “Adaptive QueueMechanism for Efficient Realtime Packet Transfer and Adaptive QueueEstablishment System thereof”, and improved technique for handlingevents in a multipathing system employing event queuing is described inU.S. Pat. No. 8,452,901 to Sandstrom et al., entitled: “Ordered KernelQueue for Multipathing Events”, which are all incorporated in theirentirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

An adaptive system involving real-time moving data between sockets andqueues upon their availability is shown as an architecture 457 in FIG.45, which may be part of any network element. Dynamic queues are addedto the transmit data path, from an application (in the User Space) andthe communication interfaces, allowing better usage of the systemresources, in particular the various sockets and OS queues. A DynamicQueue #1 459 a is added to cooperated with the OS queue #1 443 a and thesocket #1 444 a, a Dynamic Queue #2 459 b is added to cooperated withthe OS queue #2 443 b and the socket #2 444 b, and a Dynamic Queue #3459 c is added to cooperated with the OS queue #3 443 c and the socket#3 444 c. The dynamic queues are data allocated, managed, and supervisedby a Dynamic Queues Manager 458 added software module, which may executea flowchart 460 shown in FIG. 46. The dynamic queues manager 458 checksthe status of the queues and sockets in the system, and shifts the datato be transmitted between the various queues and sockets to obtainhigher system efficiency. For example, in a case one queue is loadedwhile another queue is empty, the manager 458 may remove data from aloaded queue and shifts the data to the empty one.

The flowchart 460, which may be executed by any network element, startsat a ‘Data to Send’ step 461 a, where data to be sent from the device isintercepted from an application. In a ‘Obtain Sockets Status’ step 461b, the status of all sockets (and related queues) is checked. Forexample, if the data was already loaded into one of the queues relatingto a socket, the waiting time for the socket to transmit all loaded datais estimated. Further, the characteristics of the socket and itsunderlying communication interface, such as BW and RTT (based onprevious transactions), is also fetched. Based on the obtainedinformation in the ‘Obtain Sockets Status’ step 461 b, one of thesockets is selected as the optimal one, in a ‘Select Optimal Socket’step 461 c. The optimal socket (and related queues) may be selectedbased on the time it is estimated that the data will be fullytransmitted from the device and the applicable queues will be renderedempty. The selected optimal socket route queues are then checked in an‘Empty?’ step 461 d to be empty. In the case the optimal socket isempty, the data is routed to the selected socket, such as to the OSqueue #1 443 a, to be queued for being sent via the socket #1 444 a anda respective communication interface, in an ‘Add to Queue’ step 461 e.In the case the selected route via the socket (e.g., socket #1 444 a) isnot empty, the manager 458 checks in a ‘Cancelled?’ step 461 f whetherthe data that is currently stored in that route has been cancelled bythe application that requested this data transfer, or whether it waspreviously cancelled by the manager 458. In the case the datatransmitting was indeed cancelled, the respective cancelled operation iscancelled and the data is removed from the queues in a ‘Remove Data’step 461 g, and the new data to be sent is loaded to be transmitted viathis route, in the ‘Add to Queue’ step 461 e. In the case the datatransmitting process has not been cancelled, the socket (and itsrespective queues) is declared as unavailable in a ‘Socket Unavailable’step 461 h, and another optimal socket (different from the last selectedone) is selected in the ‘Select Optimal Socket’ step 461 c.

Any transfer of data between any two network elements, may use, or bebased on, a compression scheme (which may be any compression scheme),such as the communication between a client device (such as the clientdevice #1 31 a) and the acceleration server 32, that is a part of theillustrated messaging chart 50, such as the ‘Sign in’ 56 b, ‘RequestList’ 56 c, ‘Send List’ 56 d, or any other communications between theseelements. Alternatively or in addition, the same or other compressionscheme may be used in the communication between a tunnel device (such asthe tunnel device #1 33 a) and the acceleration server 32, that is apart of the illustrated messaging chart 50, such as the ‘Sign in’ 56 aor any other communications between these elements. Alternatively or inaddition, the same or other compression scheme may be used in thecommunication between a client device (such as the client device #1 31a) and a tunnel device (such as the tunnel device #1 33 a), that is apart of the illustrated messaging in the timing chart 50, such as the‘Initiate Pre-Connection’ 56 e, ‘Pre-Connection’ 56 f, ‘Content Request’56 g, ‘Send Content’ 56 j, or any other communications between theseelements. Alternatively or in addition, the same or other compressionscheme may be used in the communication between a tunnel device (such asthe tunnel device #1 33 a) and a data server (such as the data server #122 a), that is a part of the illustrated messaging chart 50, such as the‘Content Request’ 56 h, ‘Send Content’ 56 i, or any other communicationsbetween these elements.

Alternatively or in addition, the same or other compression scheme maybe used in the communication between an agent device (such as the agentdevice #1 103 a) and the acceleration server 202, that is a part of theillustrated messaging chart 220, such as the ‘Sign In’ 226 a, or anyother communications between these elements. Alternatively or inaddition, the same or other compression scheme may be used in thecommunication between a client device (such as the client device #1 210a) and the acceleration server 202, that is a part of the illustratedmessaging chart 220, such as the ‘Sign In’ 226 d, ‘Request List’ 226 e,‘Send List’ 226 f, or any other communications between these elements.Alternatively or in addition, the same or other compression scheme maybe used in the communication between a client device (such as the clientdevice #1 210 a) and an agent device (such as the agent device #1 103a), that is a part of the illustrated messaging chart 220, such as the‘Request List’ 226 g, ‘Send List’ 226 h, or any other communicationsbetween these elements. Alternatively or in addition, the same or othercompression scheme may be used in the communication between a clientdevice (such as the client device #1 210 a) and a peer device (such asthe peer device #1 102 a), that is a part of the illustrated messagingchart 220, such as the ‘Chunk Request’ 226 i, ‘Send Chunk’ 226 j, or anyother communications between these elements.

The same compression scheme may be used in all of the abovecommunications. Alternatively or in addition, no compression ordifferent compression scheme may be used in each of the abovecommunication. A compression scheme used may be lossy or lossless(non-lossy). Further, a compression scheme may be a dictionary-basedscheme. Furthermore, the compression may be according to, or based on, astandard compression algorithm which may be JPEG (Joint PhotographicExperts Group) and MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group), ITU-T H.261,ITU-T H.263, ITU-T H.264, or ITU-T CCIR 601. Further, the compressionscheme may be according to, or based on, Lempel-Ziv (LZ) or Huffmanencoding (or both) compression methods, such as LZ, DEFLATE, SHRI, LZX,or LZW. Further, a dictionary-based compression scheme may be used thatis according to, or based on, a local dictionary as described herein. Inthe case wherein the data transferred consists of, or include, m videodata, the compression scheme may be an intraframe or interframecompression.

Devices communicating over a network, such as over the Internet 113, mayinclude the same software components or applications, such as the sameoperating system or the same web browser, and may further retrieve andstore the same or similar content from the Internet 113. Such storedcontent similarities may be used in order to build a dictionary to usein a lossless compression scheme.

Referring now to a lossless dictionary-based system 470 b shown in FIG.47, which is based on the system 470 shown in FIG. 4. In addition to theshared dictionary 473 a, the encoder 474 a (corresponding to the encoder474) shown as part of the encoding device 471 a (corresponding to theencoding device 471) which may be part of any network element, is usingalso a local dictionary 478 a. The compression may use only the shareddictionary 473 a, only the local dictionary 478 a, or both. Similarly,the decoder 477 a (corresponding to the encoding device 471 a) shown aspart of the decoding device 472 a (corresponding to the decoding device472) which may be part of any network element, is using also a localdictionary 478 b. Further, the decoding device 472 a which is thereceiving device, may transmit feedback over connection 479 b of thedecoding device 472 a, communicating over the network 480 to theconnection 479 a of the encoding device 471 a.

The building of the local dictionaries 478 a and 478 b in the respectiveencoding device 471 a and the decoding device 472 a is shown as a ‘LocalDictionary Building’ flowchart 481 in FIG. 48, which may be executed byany network element. In the first step (such as upon a device power-upor upon launching the respective application), the device allocates astorage space in its memory (such as in its storage device 25 c) for thelocal dictionary in an ‘Allocate Memory’ step 481 a. For example, abuffer of the size of 1 GB may be allocated for serving as a dictionary.Alternatively or in addition, a portion of an available hard-diskstorage area may be allocated. Next, a local dictionary (such asdictionaries 478 a and 478 b) is built in each of the devices in a‘Build Local Dictionary’ step 481 b. The device (such as the encodingdevice 471 a or the decoding device 472 a) scans the content stored inall its storage devices, such as the storage device 25 c, the mainmemory 25 a, and the ROM 25 b, and partition it into chunks. Thepartition into chunks may involve the chunks being non-overlapping,equally-sized parts. In one example, a chunk size may be 2 KB(Kilo-Bytes), and in the case the content to be partitioned is not anexact multiple of 2 KB, the ‘last’ chunk will padded and filled with‘space’ characters (or any other no content data). Each of the contentin the chunks is identified by a chunk identifier, where each chunkidentifier is associated with one, and only one, chunk, and the localdictionary stores the identifiers for the chunks. The identifiers of thechunks may be their calculated checksum, or the CRC of the content ofthe chunk is calculated, and used as the chunk identifier. For example,CRC-32 may be used, allowing each chunk (such as 16 KB size) to beidentified by 33-bit identifier. Alternatively or in addition, a chunkidentifier is based on a hash function of the chunk content. Since thesame rules regarding partitioning into chunks and identifying the chunksare used by both the encoding device 471 a and the decoding device 472a, and since it is assumed that some identical content is stored in bothdevices, the resulting local dictionaries 478 a and 478 b will have manycommon entries, that can be used for dictionary-based losslesscompression.

Since the storage area allocated in the ‘Allocate Memory’ step 481 a maybe limited and may not store all the chunks' identifiers, priorities maybe assigned to parts of the partitioned content, and only identifiers ofchunks associated with a high priority content will be stored as part ofthe local dictionary. Such probabilities are allocated as part of an‘Allocate Probabilities’ step 481 c, and may involve assigning higherprobability, leading to higher priority for being included in the localdictionary, to files and data that are likely to be stored in bothdevices. For example, files of the operating system may be assignedhigher probability since they are likely to be stored in both devices,while locally generated data may be associated with a lower probability.

The encoding device 471 a may execute a ‘Sending Data’ flowchart 482shown in FIG. 48, which may be executed by any network element. Uponreceiving data to send in a ‘Data to Send’ step 482 a, such as receivingDATA_1 in input port 475 a of the encoder 474 a, the encoder 474 acompresses the received data in a ‘Compress Using Both Dictionaries’step 482 b. The compression scheme may use either the local dictionary478 a, or the shared dictionary 473 a, or both, where chunks to betransmitted are replaced with their identifiers as stored in one ofthese dictionaries. In one example, the local dictionary 478 a is firstfetched for a chunk identifier, and only if such identifier do not existin that dictionary, the shared dictionary is used according to anycompression scheme. The compressed data DATA_2 at encoder 474 a outputport 475 b is then sent via the network 480 to the decoding device 472a.

Upon receiving data, such as the DATA_2 from the network 480, thedecoding device executes a ‘Receiving Data’ flowchart 483, shown in FIG.48, which may be executed by any network element. The data is receivedat the decoder (or decompressor) 477 a input port 476 a, in a ‘DataReceived’ step 483 a. The decoder 477 a decompress the received data ina ‘Decompress’ step 483 b, such as by replacing the received identifierswith the actual chunks for reconstructing the original data DATA_1, andoutputting it at the port 476 b. However, a received chunk identifier(or multiple identifiers) may not be found in the local dictionary 478b, as checked in a ‘Successful?’ step 483 c. In the case an identifieris not located, the decoder 477 a sends via the Feedback connection 479b, a retransmit request over the network 480, in a ‘Send RetransmitRequest’ step 483 d. In the case the decompression was successful, orafter sending the retransmit request, the decoder 477 a handles the nextreceived chunk (if exists) by reverting to the ‘Data Received’ step 483a.

The retransmit request is received at the connection 479 a of theencoder 474 a, and is handled as part of a ‘Retransmit Request’ step 482d. The encoder 474 a retransmits the chunk for which an identifier wasnot found in the decoding device 472 a. The encoder 474 a may send thechunk in an uncompressed form. Alternatively or in addition, if theunidentifiable chunk was compressed using the local dictionary 478 a,the encoder may now retransmit the chunk using the shared dictionary 473a. The shared dictionaries 473 a and 473 b may be built and used usingany known dictionary-based compression scheme. Alternatively or inaddition, the shared dictionaries 473 a and 473 b may be based oncontent and dictionaries received from other network elements.

Using a compression scheme allows for reducing the time intervalrequired in order to transfer a content from an encoding device (such asthe encoding device 471 a) to a decoding device (such as the encodingdevice 472 a), by reducing the number of bits that are actuallytransferred, while allowing to fully reconstruct the entire content. Forexample, in a case where the content to be transferred is about the sizeof 100 Kb, using lossless compression may allow for transmitting andreceiving only 80 Kb, while allowing the reconstruction of the whole 100Kb size content, hence saving 20% of the total content size. Assumingthe content is transferred over a communication medium (such as thenetwork 480) that is associated with RTT₁ and BW₁, the time saved due tothe compression can be calculated to be BITS_REDUCED/BW₁, whereBITS_REDUCED denotes the size of the saved content that is nottransmitted over the network due to the compression, such as 20 Kb (100Kb−80 Kb) in the above example. In one example, assuming the saved partof the content is transmitted separately and hence the RTT₁ isassociated with its transmission, the time saved may be calculated to beRTT₁+BITS_REDUCED/BW₁. It is noted that in a case wherein the processingtime due to the compression and decompression is not negligible (denotedCOMPRESS_TIME), the added time associated with these activities may bereduced from the calculated saved time above, to beSAVED_TIME=RTT₁+BITS_REDUCED/BW₁−COMPRESS-TIME.

In the case wherein a retransmission is required, there istime-consuming overhead added to the total transfer time, relating tothe retransmission request from the decoding device to the encodingdevice, such as the ‘Send Retransmit Request’ step 483 d, the‘Retransmit Received’ step 482 d, and the ‘Retransmit Using SharedDictionary’ step 482 b, and the associated overhead of handling thesesteps, and the actual retransmission process. Assuming the communicationmedium (such as the network 480) used to send the retransmitted messagefrom the decoding device to the encoding device is associated with RTT₂and BW₂, the added time period for the sending of the retransmittedmessage (the ‘penalty’) can be calculated to be RTT₂+MESSAGE_SIZE/BW₂,where the MESSAGE_SIZE relates to the size of the retransmitted message.Further, the retransmission itself of the content part that was notsuccessfully compressed when first transmitted, causes a delay ofRTT₁+RETRANSMIT_SIZE/BW₁, hence the total delay associated withretransmission may be calculated to beRTT₂+MESSAGE_SIZE/BW₂+RTT₁+RETRANSMIT_SIZE/BW₁. It is noted that in acase wherein the processing time due to the retransmission, there-compression and the re-decompression (assuming another compressionscheme is used) is not negligible (denoted RECOMPRESS_TIME), the addedtime associated with these activities may be added to the calculatedadded time above, so that the retransmission total added time(‘penalty’) may bePENALTY=RECOMPRESS_TIME+RTT₂+RETRANSMIT_SIZE/BW₂+RTT₁+MESSAGE_SIZE/BW₁.Hence, while the net time saved as part of a compression scheme may becalculated to be the saved time period, deducting the totalretransmission related time period, and thus the actual time saving,denoted as an ACTUAL_SAVE and equal to SAVED_TIME−PENALTY, may becalculated asACTUAL_SAVE=(RTT₁+BITS_REDUCED/BW₁−COMPRESS-TIME)−(RECOMPRESS_TIME+RTT₂+MESSAGE_SIZE/BW₂+RTT₁+RETRANSMIT_SIZE/BW₁).In the case the ACTUAL_SAVE is negative (ACTUAL_SAVE<0), the using ofthe compression scheme is not efficient, as there is no actual saving ofany latency in the effective total content transmission time.

The need for retransmission may be estimated, and thus the time savingin using a compression scheme may be estimated, and used for deciding touse a compression scheme, or what compression scheme to use. In oneexample, a probability of retransmission is allocated to each content(or a part thereof). The probability may be estimated based on theprobability that a random device may store such content, based on formercommunication sessions, based on a receiving device characteristics(such as being a laptop, a desktop, a smartphone, or a mobile device),based on the receiving device operating system (such as Windows orAndroid), or based on the receiving device IP address. Based on theassigned retransmission probability, the estimated time savings usingvarious compression schemes may be estimated, and the estimation may beused in order to select between compression schemes. Assuming aprobability P for a successful compression, the probability for aretransmission is 1-P, and hence the estimated time saving(EST_ACTUAL_SAVE) can be calculated asEST_ACTUAL_SAVE=SAVED_TIME−(1−P)*PENALTY, hence in the case of P=1(successful compression, no retransmission), the saved time will be theSAVED_TIME, and in case of P=0 (retransmission guaranteed), theestimated saved time is SAVED_TIME−PENALTY. In the case theEST_ACTUAL_SAVE is negative (or zero), whereby no actual time saving isexpected to be achieved, an alternative (or none) compression schemeshould be used.

Referring now to a flowchart 484 shown in FIG. 48a , which may be partof the ‘Compress Using Both Dictionaries’ step 482 b of the flowchart482. The content or data to be compressed before transmission ischecked, and a probability of successful compression using a localdictionary (such as the dictionary 478 a), defined as a compressionwhere no retransmission is required, is allocated as part of an‘Allocate Probability’ step 484 a. Using the allocated probability, thesaved time is estimated in an ‘Estimate Saved Time’ step 484 b, forexample based on the expression EST_ACTUAL_SAVE=SAVED_TIME−(1−P)*PENALTYdescribed above. The actual estimated time saving (such asEST_ACTUAL_SAVE) is checked in a ‘Saved Time >0?’ step 484 c. In a casewhere the estimated time is positive, suggesting that there is a latencyreduction by using a compression based on the local dictionary 478 amethod, a compression based on the local dictionary 478 a follows in a‘Compress Using Local Dictionary’ step 484 d. In a case where theestimated saved time is negative, suggesting that no time is saved usinga local dictionary based compression scheme, a compression based on theshared dictionary 478 a (or sending the data uncompressed) follows in a‘Compress Using Shared Dictionary’ step 484 e.

Referring to a system 490 shown in FIG. 49, showing a device #1 491 a,which may consist of, comprise of, or is included in, a tunnel-basedclient device (such as the client device #1 31 a), a peer-based clientdevice (such as the client device #1 31 a), or any other networkelement, a device #2 491 b, which may consist of, comprise of, or isincluded in, a tunnel device (such as the tunnel device #1 33 a), a peerdevice (such as the peer device #1 102 a), or any other network element,and the data server #1 22 a, connected for exchanging information overthe Internet 113. The data server #1 22 a may store a content that isidentified by a URL (or by any other identifier type). Further copies ofthe content may be stored in a memory 493 a being part of the device #1491 a, and in a memory 493 b being part of the device #2 491 b. Thecopies of the content stored in the devices may be the result offetching it from the data server #1 22 a as part of previousinteractions. In one example, an application in the device #1 491 arequests the same content. As described in the ‘Locally cached?’ step331 c in the flowchart 330, it is more efficient to retrieve therequested content from the local memory (such as the memory 493 a) asdescribed in the ‘Fetch from Local cache’ step 331 b in the flowchart330, than to spend resources in order to again fetch the same contentfrom the data server #1 22 a.

However, while identified by the same identifier (such as a URL), thecontent in the data server #1 22 a may have been changed or updatedsince it was fetched by the device #1 493 a or by the device #2 491 b,thus the copies stored in these devices may not anymore be valid orupdated. In such a scenario, the locally stored non-valid stored copyshould be ignored and discarded, and not used anymore, and hence a freshcontent relating to the URL needs to be fetched from the data server #122 a, or from another location. Further, a validity period may beassociated with a content or its copy, where the content is ensured tobe valid until the validity period expires. In one example, the validityof a copy of a content is verified by comparing a part of a validated(or original) content, to the respective part of the checked copy. Inthe case the two parts are the same, the copy is declared as valid,assuming the rest of the copy of the content is the same as the updatedcontent.

Referring to a flowchart 490 a shown in FIG. 49a , describing a methodfor validating a copy of a content. The request for the content (such asby using a URL or any other content identifier) is obtained in an‘Obtain Content Request’ 494 a. In a ‘Local Copy Valid’ step 494 b(which may be part of the ‘Locally Cached’ step 331 c) the validity ofthe content, if known (such as by checking that the associated periodhas not yet expired), is checked. In the case the locally stored copy(such as in the memory 493 a of the device #1 491 a) is determined to bevalid, the locally stored content is used in a ‘Use Local Copy’ step 494c, which corresponds to the ‘Fetch from Local Cache’ step 331 b in theflowchart 330. In the case the validity of the locally stored copy issuspected, a part of the content (preferably a small part) is fetchedfrom the data server #1 22 a in a ‘Fetch Slice From Server’ step 494 d.The requested and fetched part of the content may be a slice or chunk,as described herein. Alternatively or in addition, a fixed number ofbytes may be used. Further, the size of the fetched part may be 5% or10% of the total size of the content. The part of the content may be thefirst part, the last part, or any other part of the content.

In a ‘Same as Local Copy?’ step 494 e, the fetched part of the contentis compared with the respective part of the locally stored copy of thecontent. In the case the two checked parts are found to consist of thesame information, the locally cached content is determined to be valid,and is used as a response to the content request in the ‘ContentRequest’ step 494 a as part of the ‘Use Local Copy’ step 494 c. In thecase where the two checked parts are different, the locally cachedcontent is determined to be non-valid. Next, a slice of a copy of thecontent is requested and fetched from another network element, such asfrom the device #2 491 b in a ‘Fetch Slice From Device’ step 494 f, andthe fetched slice is checked in a ‘same as Server Slice?’ step 494 g,and compared versus the slice that was fetched from the data server #122 a in the ‘Fetch Slice From Server’ step 494 d. In the case where thetwo checked parts are found to consist of the same information, thecached content in the network element (such as in the memory 493 b ofthe device #2 491 b) is determined to be valid, and the device #1 491 amay fetch the content therefrom in a ‘Fetch Content From Device’ step494 h. In one example, such fetching may use any of the methodsdescribed herein, for example, the device #2 491 b may be used as a peerdevice. Alternatively or in addition, the device #1 491 a may fetch theupdated content from the data server #1 22 a itself, corresponding tothe ‘Fetch from Server’ step 331 e in the flowchart 330. In the casewhere the two checked parts are different, the cached content in thenetwork element (such as in the memory 493 b of the device #2 491 b) isdetermined to be non-valid, and thus the device #1 491 a can only fetchthe updated content from the data server #1 22 a, as part of a ‘FetchContent From Server’ 494 i, corresponding to the ‘Fetch from Server’step 331 e in the flowchart 330.

The steps involved in the actual validating of the local content copyare considered part of a ‘Content Validation’ flowchart 496, that ispart of the flowchart 490 a in FIG. 49a . In a ‘Same as Local Copy’ step494 e and a ‘Same as Server Slice’ step 494 f, two parts of the contentare compared. The actual information in the compared parts may becompared in a bit-by-bit (or byte-by-byte) level. Alternatively or inaddition, the checksums, the CRCs (or any other hash function), HTTPheaders, or any other information representative of the partsinformation may be used for determining of the parts are the same.

In one example, a network element (device) periodically checks andvalidates the content stored in it. Hence, when the content is required,local copy may be used for either local use or as a peer device,allowing for faster response to a request for the locally storedcontent. A network element may thus execute a flowchart 490 b shown inFIG. 49b . The validation process is considered as a low-priority task,so in an ‘Idle?’ step 495 a, the activity of the network element ischecked, such as checking the CPU utilization, the available storagesize, or the available communication bandwidth. In the case the activityis above a set threshold, the higher-priority activities are givenprecedence, and the validation activity is not activated, and theelement remains in the ‘Idle?’ step 495 a. Upon availability of enoughresources and determination that no other more important tasks are to beactivated, the device scans the local memory (or cache) in a ‘ScanCache’ step 495 b, and the entries of the various content copies arechecked for validity. In the case where all the content parts are foundto be valid in a ‘Non-Valid Content?’ step 495 c, the device resumes tothe idling of the validation process in the ‘Idle?’ step 495 a, since novalidation activity is required. For each of all content entries thatare found to be non-valid, the time left until its validity expirationis checked, and is associated with the respective content entry, in an‘Associate Expiration Time’ step 495 d. It is noted that some contententries may be determined to be not important, and thus will not be partof the validation process. Out of the content entries that areconsidered as important, the device selects the content entry that isthe first to expire, in a ‘Select Non-Valid Content’ step 495 e. Theselected content is then validated in a ‘Content Validation’ step 495 f,which corresponds to the ‘Content Validation’ flowchart 496 shown aspart of the flowchart 490 a in FIG. 49a . After validating the selectedcontent, the memory is re-scanned for non-valid content in the ‘ScanCache’ step 495 b, and the validating process is until all important andnon-valid content entries are validated.

As shown in the system 500 in FIG. 50, a network element 504 may connectto another network element 501 via the gateway #1 505 a. Due to manyreasons, the network element 504 may disconnect for a short time fromthe gateway #1 505 a, and then may re-connect to the same gateway 505 aor to another gateway. In such a case, the application 506 detects theconnection disruption with the gateway 505 a, and lose the connectivityduring the time there is no connection to any gateway. In a case wherethe application is a web browser, such short loss of connectivity maycause service disruption, such as the “404 page not found” message to auser. Further, recovering from such loss of connection may be timeconsuming and employs valuable resources.

A Virtual Gateway Service 512 (VGS) may be used to reduce the period ofre-connection, and to reduce the harmful impact on the network element504 operations, as shown in a system 510 in FIG. 51. The network element504 may use either the gateway #1 505 a or a gateway #2 505 b forconnecting to the network element 501. The VGS 512 is a software storedin the network element 504 memory 508, and operating as an intermediatelevel between the OS 507 and the physical layer connecting to the LAN503. The VGS 512 intercepts requests from the operating system 507 tothe network for receiving configuration information, and receives on theconfiguration information from the gateway #1 505 a. This information isfed back to the OS 507, hence serving as a proxy (or an agent) for aconfiguration information between the OS 507 and the gateway #1 505 a.Alternatively or in addition, an intercepted request from the OS 507 maybe responding directly by the VGS 512. For example, in a case of anintercepted IP request, the VGS may locally provide an IP address.

In one example, the network element 504 may disconnect from the gateway#1 505 a, and may connect to the gateway #2 505 b shortly after. The VGS512 may simulate to the operating system 507 a gateway response, so thatthe OS 507 may not detect the disconnection from gateway #1 505 a, andas such may not report an error or a change of a status. When there-connection to the new gateway #2 505 b has been done, the VGS 512 mayrequest new configuration information, while not notifying or changingthe operating system 507 status. Thus, from the perspective of theoperating system 507, it is continuously connected to a gateway and anetwork, and the actual disconnection is not sensed by the OS 507.However, in a case of a long disconnection (from a network or agateway), the VGS 512 senses such a disconnection (such as longer thanpre-defined time period), and accordingly notifies the operating system507, thus providing the operating system 507 and the application 506 theability to correctly respond correctly to the situation, such as tonotify the user.

The VGS 512 may execute a flowchart 510 a shown in FIG. 51a . Uponconnecting to a network such as the LAN 503, the OS 507 (via the VGS512) sends an IP request to the gateway 505 a identified on the network503. During such initialization process, the VGS 512 is transparent, andallows the OS 507 to complete the regular process of initializing of acommunication session. Afterwards, any request for IP address, for anyconfiguration information, or any other initialization access, to thegateway 505 a is intercepted as part of an ‘Intercept Gateway Access’step 511 a. In a case where the intercepted (or trapped) request is anIP request, as detected in an ‘IP Request?’ step 511 b, the VGS 512serves effectively as a NAT, and provides an IP address for the OS 507to use, as part of a ‘Return Valid IP Address’ step 511 c. The VGS 512continues to serve (from the OS 507 point of view) as an externalproxy/NAT or simulates a connection with a gateway as part of an‘Activate Virtual Gateway’ step 511 d. In a ‘Gateway Disconnected?’ step511 e, the VGS 512 checks the status of the actual connection to thegateway, such as the gateway #1 505 a. If no actual disconnection isdetected, the VGS 512 idles until a new IP request is intercepted aspart of the ‘IP Request?’ step 511 b. If the actual connection to thegateway #1 505 a is not available, the VGS 512 tries to get an actualexternally-sourced IP address, such as from the gateway #1 505 a, in a‘Get External IP Address’ step 511 f. If no network connection isavailable, the VGS 512 may skip this step. In parallel, a timer set to atime period (such as X milliseconds) is started in a ‘Start Timer’ step511 g, for measuring the disconnection related time. As long as thetimer has not expired, the VGS 512 checks if an external IP address wasobtained in an ‘External IP Received?’ step 511 h, as a response to therequest sent in the ‘Get External IP Address’ step 511 f. If an actualIP address was received before the timer expiration, as checked in a‘Timer Expired?’ step 511 i, such as from an alternative gateway thatmay be the gateway #2 505 b, the received IP address is returned for theuse of the OS 507, allowing for a quick switchover between the gateways,and for normal NAT/proxy service to the OS 507. However, if the timerhas expired and no IP address was obtained, the VGS 512 notifies the OS507 that the connection was lost, allowing for the operating system 507to react to the disconnect state in the way it was programmed to.

A concept of writing cache data to the free portion of the memory isintroduced in U.S. Pat. No. 8,135,912 to Shribman et al., entitled:“System and Method of Increasing Cache Size”. The stored information istransparent to the operating system, and thus more cache size isavailable without degrading the amount of memory that is available forthe user to use. The memory arrangement in such a prior art system isshown in FIG. 52, where the file system first writes the OS data 62002,after which the cache data 62004 is written, followed by a not-used(free) space 62006. The problem with this memory management approach isthat when the file system overwrites the cache data when adding data tothe OS data 62002. In such a system where the free space 62006 is stillavailable, it would be beneficial to have a system where such further OSwrites would not overwrite the cached data while free space isavailable. Such a memory arrangement is shown in FIG. 53. The OS data62012 is first stored, whereas the cache data 62016 is stored on theother side of the memory, starting at the furthest position from thestart of the writing of the OS data 62012, so that the OS data 62012overwrites the cache data only when a free space 62014 is completelyused. It may also be desirable to have a system that cleans up the cachedata, so that data that is no longer needed is removed, to maintain thefree space and avoid the cache data being overwritten.

FIG. 54 is a flowchart of a system for writing cached data in thismodified method, as well as for cleaning up the cache periodically toallow for a free space in the system and thus less data overwrites. In astep 62202 the cache_pointer is set to the point on the storage locationthat is furthest from the starting point of where the OS data is writtento when the storage device is empty. In a step 62204, it is checkedwhether cache data (cache_data) need to be written to the storagedevice. If not, then in a step 62206 it is checked whether systemresources are idle enough to warrant a cache cleanup to be performed. Ifthere is more cache to write, then in a step 62208 the cache_pointer ismoved back (i.e., ‘towards’ the OS data) by the size of cache_data, andthen in a step 62210 the cache_data is written to the storage device asthe referenced patent instructs how to do (i.e., without notifying theoperating system so that this space is still viewed as empty by the OS).This moving back of the pointer is novel, since it creates a situationwhere the data is written in a ‘forward’ direction (in the samedirection to which the OS data is written to), which is typically thefaster writing direction for storage devices, as they are optimized forwriting OS data.

When the cleanup is performed, then in a step 62214 it is checkedwhether the free space is close to running out (e.g., is it under x % ofthe total available storage size, where x can be 10%, or under y Bytesfree where Y is 1 GB for example). If this threshold has been reached,then in a step 62216 the least relevant cache is searched for to beremoved. The criteria for less relevant could be in that it has expired,or that it is accessed the least, or any of other prior art cache purgemethods. This cache item is removed.

A cache system such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,135,912 toShribman et al. entitled: “System and Method of Increasing Cache Size”,creates a very large cache size (cache_size) but at the expense of thereliability of reading the cache back after writing it, where theprobability for a cache miss (i.e., to try to read back the cachedelement and to fail) at a certain point in time would be P, where P<1.

In some cases, the cache_size is significantly bigger than required forthe system operation. In such a case, FIG. 55 is a diagram of how P canbe increased (i.e., reliability can be increased) at the cost of thecache_size. FIG. 55 offers to create two zones of writing the cache datain the storage device, where each element in the cache is written onceto each zone. This way, the cache_size is reduced by half (since eachelement is written twice), and P would be reduced to P{circumflex over( )}2, since the probability of not reading back P would be to miss itin both of the zones. Thus, while the size of the cache is reducedlinearly (cut in half), the probability of getting a cache miss isreduced exponentially (P{circumflex over ( )}2).

FIG. 56 is a flowchart for how this could be implemented. In a step63202, a ‘cache read’ or a ‘cache write’ command is received by themodule, and in a step 63204, it checks if it is a read command or awrite command. If it is a read command, then in a step 63206 the modulelooks up in the cache index to find the two locations to which the cachewas written, and in a step 63208 attempts to read the cache entry fromthe first location. A step 63210 checks if the cache entry was found inthat read. If it was, then return a step 63212 the data that was read.If it was not found, then in a step 63220 read the cache entry from thesecond location and return it if found in the step 63212 or return datanot found if not found in the second location as well. In the case of awrite command, two different free locations are identified in a step63214 and the cache data is written to those two locations in a step63216. The cache index is updated with these two locations so that thecache entry can be found in future writes. FIG. 57 shows that in asimilar manner, the amount of times that a cache element is written tothe storage device can be increased from 2 as shown in FIGS. 55 and 56,to any number N, where in such a case the available cache size isreduced from (cache_size) to (cache_size/N), and the probability of acache miss is reduced from (P) to (P{circumflex over ( )}N).

(NDCACHE—Non-Deterministic volatile memory CACHE). In a computingdevice, the Random Access Memory (RAM) is a limited resource. When theoperating system uses the RAM, it typically increases the speed of theapplication. However, excessive use of the RAM for an application limitsthe use of the RAM by other applications and thus limits their speed.One such use of the RAM is for caching information in order to speed upthe speed of the program's operation. Such cached data may be dataretrieved from the network, or be the result of a complicated operation,etc. Operating systems make use of the RAM for caching purposes, andtypically leave some of the RAM free to be used later. If this free RAM,memory could be used to store additional cache without significantlyaffecting system performance in other ways that would be beneficial.

FIG. 58 is a diagram of the state of the art implementation of addressspace mapping. A physical address 64004 is a memory address that isrepresented in the form of a binary number on the address bus circuitryin order to enable the data bus to access a particular storage cell ofmain memory, or a register of memory mapped I/O device. In a computerwith a virtual memory 64002, the term physical address is used mostly todifferentiate from a virtual address. In particular, in computersutilizing Memory Management Unit (MMU) to translate memory addresses,the virtual and physical addresses refer to an address before and afterMMU translation respectively.

FIG. 59 is a diagram of a prior art MMU and TLB, in which the CPU 64002requires a translation of a logical address into a physical address64008 in order to read or write to it. For the translation, it sends thelogical address to the MMU 64004, which uses a cache called aTranslation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) 64006 to map the virtual address to aphysical address 64008. Modern MMUs 64004 typically divide the virtualaddress space into pages, each having a size which is a power of 2,usually a few kilobytes, but they may be much larger. The bottom n bitsof the address (the offset within a page) are left unchanged. The upperaddress bits are the (virtual) page number. The MMU 64004 normallytranslates virtual page numbers to physical page numbers via anassociative cache called TLB 64006. When the TLB 64006 lacks atranslation, a slower mechanism involving hardware-specific datastructures or software assistance is used. The data found in such datastructures are typically called page table entries (PTEs), and the datastructure itself is typically called a page table. The physical pagenumber is combined with the page offset to give the complete physicaladdress.

Sometimes, a TLB 64006 entry or PTE prohibits access to a virtual page,perhaps because no physical random access memory has been allocated tothat virtual page. In this case, the MMU 64004 signals a page fault tothe CPU 64002. The operating system (OS) then handles the situation,perhaps by trying to find a spare frame of RAM and set up a new PTE tomap it to the requested virtual address. If no RAM is free, it may benecessary to choose an existing page (known as a victim), using somereplacement algorithm or ‘eviction algorithm’, and save it to anotherform of storage (e.g., hard disk)—typically known as “paging”.

FIG. 60 is a diagram of prior art on how an MMU works. The TLB 64402receives a virtual address from the CPU. If it finds the associatedphysical memory within the TLB 64402, then it returns the Physicaladdress associated with this virtual memory, to the CPU. If it does notfind the address in the TLB 64402, then it looks it up in the Page Table64404. If there is an association there, then the physical addressassociated with the virtual address is returned. If there is no suchassociation, then the Page Table Exception Handler 64406 is activated.It uses a database and a set of drivers to figure out how to map thevirtual memory to physical memory (often by allocating new memory,loading information on to that memory from disk, and mapping it to avirtual memory). The data is then loaded into the physical page in64408, and the physical address is returned to the CPU.

FIG. 61 is a diagram of prior art on how the MMU's page table exceptionhandler works. When a page table exception occurs, the page tableexception handler is invoked, as per FIG. 59. The page table exceptionhandler 64802 first identifies in a step 64804 the driver responsiblefor this data segment. This is typically stored in the page table. Forexample, the driver for a specific virtual memory segment may determinethat this part of the virtual memory should be mapped to real physicalmemory, or it may determine that it is mapped to an IO device such as acamera and the contents should be read from the camera's sensors. Then,the driver assigned determines whether a new physical memory segmentneeds to be assigned to this virtual address space or not. If morephysical memory is required, then in a step 64808 the OS determineswhether there is such physical memory available to the system. If thereisn't free physical memory, then in the step 64808 the OS determineswhich physical page to ‘purge’ out of memory based on any number of‘eviction algorithms’ (e.g., least recently used is discarded). Thedriver assigned to this memory space determines in which manner thisinformation is purged—i.e., is it simply discarded, or saved to disk,etc. The MMU then evicts in a step 64810 the physical page by eitherswapping it to disk, erasing it, or whatever method the driverassociated with it determined. If in a step 64806 it is determined thatthere is enough free physical memory to create the new page, then thedriver determines in a step 64814 the method by which to load the datainto the physical memory or to otherwise map the virtual address to anIO device, etc., and then loads in a step 64816 the data into thephysical memory or maps it as required. The virtual memory map to thephysical address is then sent to the TLB 64818, and the request isresolved for the CPU.

The prior art memory management can be described as deterministic,because information that is stored in the physical memory by theapplication is always retrievable, even in case that physical memory ispurged, since the driver for that memory segment that is purgedtypically saves the data before discarding it. There is a ‘cost’ to thisdeterminism, in that there is a load and purge time to the physicalmemory, since when purging this physical memory it needs to be writtento a different medium, and then loaded back from the medium before itcan be read. In cases where an application wishes to store cache data inthe volatile memory in order to save time in re-calculating analgorithm, or in order to not load it again from the web, or in othercases, it does not need the determinism offered by the state of the artmemory management systems, but it does need high access speeds, since ifthe speeds are not high, then it may be more beneficial to the system torecalculate the algorithm or to re-fetch the information from the web,and not to do a page fault which is costly in time. In addition, themore physical memory available for the cache, the faster that theapplications can run. However, the more physical memory allocated tocache of one application, the less is available for other uses, and thusthe system performance may be degraded. Therefore, it is beneficial todesign a system that can gain from higher speeds associated withnon-determinism in the memory management, and that can use the maximumpossible physical memory without deteriorating the performance of otherapplications.

FIG. 62 is a flowchart of how a non-deterministic physical memorycaching system may be implemented. In a step 65002 an applicationrequests from the operating system a non-deterministic physical memorycache (NDCACHE). The OS allocates in a step 65004 the physical memoryfor the cache, and maps it to virtual memory, and marks these pages withan ‘NDCACHE’ flag. If the eviction algorithm of the OS decides to swapout in a step 65006 a physical page which is marked with an ‘NDCACHE’flag, then that page is discarded in a step 65010 without being storedback to non volatile memory—it is simply removed from the page table,and will be allocated to a new page and the new data will overwrite theold. If the OS is running out in a step 65008 of physical memory (thismay be determined via a variety of ways that will be described later onin the document), then the OS discards one or more NDCACHE pages frommemory to clear up memory for the OS. For example, it may clear up fourpages, check if that is enough for the OS, and clear more if needed.When the application wishes to read in a step 65014 a virtual memorythat was requested as an NDCACHE memory, and is now a regular memory(since the NDCACHE memory was swapped out and thus discarded), itreceives back a ‘DOES NOT EXIST’ message to indicate that this memorywas lost and thus the cache data requested no longer exists. During aread or write transaction to or from an NDCACHE page in a step 65016,that page is locked so that the eviction algorithm does not purge itduring that action.

FIG. 63 is a suggested Application Programming Interface (API) for anNDCACHE implementation. This suggested API is similar to the file systemAPI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system_API) in POSIX(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POSIX). To start a new NDCACHE type cache,an application first will call the function NDCACHE_OPEN 6504, whichreturns a handle to the NDCACHE (FILEDS) that is referenced by NAME. TheNAME that is passed to the function is a unique name for that cache thatis used between different processes accessing this page, similar to howa filename is used in the file system POSIX API. If the NDCACHEspecified by NAME exists, then the function simply returns a handle tothe existing cache. If it does not exist, then NULL is returned by thefunction. However, if the CREATE_FLAG passed to the function is turnedon, then upon opening an NDCACHE specified by NAME that does not yetexist, such an NDCACHE is created and the function returns the handle tothat NDCACHE. If such a cache already exists and the TRUNCATE_FLAG isset, then that cache is erased, and a handle to this empty cache isreturned by the function.

NDCACHE_READ and NDCACHE_WRITE 65404 are the functions used to read fromthe NDCACHE and write to the NDCACHE (respectively) that is referencedby the FILEDS that was initially received from the NDCACHE_OPENfunction. The BUFFER is an allocated memory that the application can useto read the information to (in case of NDCACHE_READ) or to write from(in case of NDCACHE_WRITE). The OFFSET is the offset (in bytes, forexample) within the NDCACHE referenced, to start the read, or to startthe write, from. SIZE is the number of bytes to read or to write.NDCACHE_CLOSE 65406 is called to close the handle to the NDCACHEreferenced by FILEDS. After all handles to an NDCACHE are closed, the OSmay decide to swap it out based on its eviction algorithms.NDCACHE_UNLINK 6508 is called to remove the NDCACHE entry referenced byFILEDS from the operating system's page table, thus effectively deletingthis NDCACHE.

A file system is a means to organize data by providing procedures tostore, retrieve and update data, as well as manage the available spaceon the device(s) which contain it. A file system is tuned to thespecific characteristics of the device. There is usually a tightcoupling between the operating system and the file system. Somefilesystems provide mechanisms to control access to the data andmetadata. Ensuring reliability is a major responsibility of afilesystem. Some filesystems provide a means for multiple programs toupdate data in the same file at nearly the same time.

File systems are used on data storage devices such as hard disk drives,floppy disks, optical discs, memory storage devices, remote servers,etc. File systems may provide access to data on a file server by actingas clients for a network protocol (e.g. NFS or SMB clients), or they maybe virtual and exist only as an access method for virtual data (e.g.procfs). This is distinguished from a directory service and registry. AFile system is implemented in a file system driver which implements astandard file system API for using it, and is coupled to a storagedevice or other storage strategy (like mapping to existing memory).

FIG. 64 shows the prior art method of mounting a file system. A computer66202 has a file system directory structure 66204, which in variousdirectories represent space on various storage devices. The block device66208 is such a storage device on which data may be stored. The filesystem driver 66206 links between the block device 66208 and a certaindirectory in the file system 66204. The file system driver is configuredto be called by the OS on a specific point in the OS directory structure(in this example in “/tmp”). Every file call to that directory initiatesa call to the File System Driver 66206, which may use a memory devicesuch as the block device 66208 to store & retrieve information. Thislinking of a storage device to a directory is called ‘mounting a filesystem’.

FIG. 65 is a prior art diagram of the TMPFS file system. TMPFS is acommon name for a temporary file storage facility on many Unix-likeoperating systems. It is intended to appear as a mounted file system,but stored in volatile memory instead of a persistent storage device. Asimilar construction is a RAM disk, which appears as a virtual diskdrive and hosts a disk file system. The computer 66402 has a directorystructure 66404 in which the TMP directory is mapped to the TMPFS filesystem driver 66406, such that when file system calls are made on fileswithin the TMP directory, they are performed on data that is stored in avolatile memory 66408.

A secondary implementation of an NDCACHE may use simple file systemmounting. This implementation is simple in that it does not requirekernel mode modifications, or some minimal modifications to the TMPFSfile storage facility that is available on many unix-like operatingsystems.

FIG. 66 is a flowchart of a possible implementation of an NDCACHE byusing a TMPFS file system. In a step 66602 a TMPFS is created andmounted, with an initial size of X bytes, where X can be 1 GB forexample, to be used for the NDCACHE. In a step 66604, the system checkswhether the operating system would benefit from having additionalvolatile memory. This can be done in various methods known to those inthe art. For example, this can be done by checking every Y ms (forexample every 20 ms) if less than a certain amount of free memory existsin the system (could be less than 200 MB for example), or if above acertain amount of memory swaps occurred recently (could be more than 2swaps per second for example), or if the kernel cache space is reducedto under a certain size (could be under 2 GB for example). This can alsobe done by listening to ‘stress’ operating system calls such as “lowmemory” type calls—if these are called then the operating systemprobably would benefit from having additional volatile memory. Thiscould also be checked by attaching a callback on the swapping out ofmemory of the TMPFS file and deleting it instead of swapping it out.

If any of the above events in a step 66606 occurred, then the OS wouldbenefit from having more volatile memory. This is checked in a step66608. If the OS would not benefit from more memory, then continue tothe step 66604. If it would, then in a step 66610 the NDCACHE is reducedby deleting a number of elements from it, so that its size is reduced byZ bytes (for example by 200 MB). In a step 66612 shows variousstrategies by which elements may be reduced from the NDCACHE: delete theleast recently used (LRU), the least frequently used (LFU), the largestelements by bytes, or the smallest elements by size. This TMPFS sizereduction thus frees space for the operating system. This systemdescribed in FIG. 66 thus describes an implementation of an NDCACHE,since the application gains a physical memory cache, that is swapped out(partially or completely) as the operating system requires more physicalmemory for its operation.

Hence, a method of increasing the size of the memory (which is aphysical memory) available to applications by which an application mayrequest memory which is specially marked, is disclosed, where theapplication is able to read and write to this physical memory, and whereif the operating system needs more memory then this specially markedmemory is discarded. If the specially marked memory space is swapped bythe operating system, then it is simply discarded. If the operatingsystem would benefit by having more memory available to it, it reducesthe size of the memory allocated to the specially marked cache. Themethod may be implemented by a TMPFS system that allocates physicalmemory to this special cache, where if the operating system wouldbenefit by having more memory available to it, it reduces the size ofthe TMPFS allocated to this specially marked cache

The second implementation of the NDCACHE—the calls to TMPFS are fromuser mode to kernel mode, and thus may take thousands of CPU cycles tocomplete. It is thus desirable to avoid calls between user mode andkernel mode if possible, to improve a performance of the system to getminimum cycles per an NDCACHE call.

A system with higher performance can be achieved by implementing theNDCACHE as a user mode module that communicates with an NDCACHE kernelmodule, as described in FIG. 67. Block 67202 is the user mode space ofthe computing device, and block 67208 is the kernel space. Theapplication 67204 is running in the user mode 67202 and using an API(NDCACHE calls) that is implemented in an NDCACHE user modeimplementation 67206. It uses system calls to communicate with theNDCACHE kernel mode implementation 67210.

FIG. 68 is a description of the API relating to a third implementationmethod of the NDCACHE. The block 67402 is pseudo code that describes howan NDCACHE would be allocated and written to. First, a FILEDS handle iscreated by opening a file that is handled by the NDCACHE_DRIVER, whichis the kernel module for NDCACHE events, along with the NDCACHE_NAME,which is the specific name of the NDCACHE that is being accessed. Then,a pointer directly to the NDCACHE memory is received by doing anNDCACHE_LOOKUP on the NDCACHE_NAME. This lookup returns a pointer to thememory of the specific NDCACHE, and if such a cache does not exist, P isassigned NULL. If indeed no such NDCACHE exists, then it needs to becreated. In such a case, the pointer P is assigned a memory map of acertain size (in this specific implementation it is 1 MB, but this couldbe other sizes), where this memory is declared as shared memory so thatit may be used by multiple processes.

Then the first memory position in P (P[0]) is increased (so that if thiswas a new assignment of memory, then P is now 1), to indicate that thereis content in this NDCACHE. Then the program continues by writing thedata to P, starting at P[1]. If the cache exists (i.e. was not allocatedby this call), then do the NDCACHE_WRITE( ) function.

FIG. 69 shows how such an allocation would look like—the first byte ofthe allocation is the lock flag (P[0] in the above code), whichindicates that there is content within this NDCACHE of 1 MB that wasallocated, and the 1 MB is comprised of a series of 4 KB allocations.FIG. 70 is an implementation of the NDCACHE_READ( ) and NDCACHE_WRITE(). First, it is checked whether the cache still exists, by checking thefirst byte of the NDCACHE range. If it is zero, then that NDCACHE wasswapped out, and thus the program returns to the applicationMEM_NOT_FOUND. Then the program increments the first byte of the NDCACHErange. If it equals ‘1’, then it was zero when incremented—i.e., theNDCACHE range was swapped out and cannot be used. The program thenreturns the first byte to zero, and returns MEM_NOT_FOUND to theapplication. Now the NDCACHE range is locked (because the first byte isnon-zero), and the range is read in to buffer or written from the bufferto the range, as the case may be for NDCACHE_READ or NDCACHE_WRITErespectively. After finishing the read or write, the program thendecrements the lock flag to release the lock on the range by indicatingit has completed the read/write and returns.

FIG. 71 is the implementation of the eviction algorithm of the NDCACHEkernel module (the NDCACHE_DRIVER). In prior art operating systems, theeviction algorithm is called when the OS needs more physical memory—itthen calls the eviction calls of the various drivers handling memory forthem to clear out selected portions of the memory. Some of these driversare programmed to copy segments of the memory in to other storagedevices (such as a hard drive) and then to clear the physical memory forother uses, while other drivers may choose other forms of action. Theeviction algorithm for the NDCACHE_DRIVER is described in block 67802.Upon being called, it removes all associated memory ranges associatedwith LOCK_FLAG that is 0 (which means that the memory range is not inuse). If more memory needs to be freed, then it can also remove theranges who's LOCK_FLAG is 1, since they are in use but not locked. Itdoes not remove memory ranges who's LOCK_FLAG is greater than 1, sincethey are currently locked by a read or write operation. As an example,there may be several NDCACHES in use, each of them of various sizes.When the eviction algorithm is called, it removes those NDCACHESassociated with a lock flag that is 0 or 1, but not greater than one.Further implementations of this may choose to not remove all theNDCACHEs possible, but only enough NDCACHEs so that the OS has enoughfree memory (e.g. 50 MB) to continue normal operation.

Block 67804 describes how the swapping out of memory ranges by anNDCACHE_DRIVER is done: Once the eviction algorithm of theNDCACHE_DRIVER decided to free a range, it maps the virtual memorypointers to an “all zero” range in ‘read only’ mode (for example bymapping to devzero. This quickly sets the memory and the LOCK_FLAG tozero, thus freeing the physical memory for the OS to use, and marking itas empty towards the applications using the NDCACHE.

FIG. 72 is a diagram that shows the system for the fourth method ofimplementation for the NDCACHE, which allows for parts of the NDCACHE tobe removed while keeping other parts in the memory. For example, wherenot all the memory ranges handled by the NDCACHE driver are attempted tobe freed, but only a certain amount that will enable the OS to have morefree space to operate (e.g., freeing ranges until 200 MB are free).

In the previous implementation methods, an NDCACHE element in theprevious implementations is assigned in one block. The problem is thatthis whole block is swapped out even if only a certain part needs to beswapped out by the OS (all or nothing type of approach). It is desirableto have an implementation where only portions of the allocation may beswapped out (for example, the NDCACHE element could be a whole file, andit may be useful if parts of it are swapped out). In block 68002 thereare a group of pages in the physical memory of a computer (page #1, Page#2, . . . Page #N), in this example each of the pages is a range of 4KB. In block 68004, there is a group of flags in an area of the physicalmemory allocated to be the management area of the NDCACHE, where thereis one such flag for every page in the memory, that is allocated to theNDCACHE. Each flag in the management area in block 68004 is actually a‘lock flag’ from the previous implementation of the NDCACHE and is usedin the same way, but is done per page, so that each lock flag correlateswith one page in the memory. Thus, the NDCACHE may allocate a large filefrom Page #1 to Page #N, and when the OS needs more free memory then theNDCACHE's eviction algorithm may choose to free a certain memory sizefor the OS (e.g. 4 MB), and only remove the first 1,000 pages from thisNDCACHE, instead of removing the whole cache.

Hence, an NDCACHE system is disclosed, where each NDCACHE is mapped to amultitude of physical memory pages, and where there is one lock flagassociated with each such physical memory page, so that when theoperating system of the computing device needs more physical memory, itcan release only some of the physical pages associated with thisNDCACHE.

FIG. 73 is a flowchart for implementing the fourth implementation of anNDCACHE. When an NDCACHE is requested by an application, the applicationcalls the initialization function and specifies the size of therequested NDCACHE. In a step 68202, physical memory is allocated for theNDCACHE as was requested by the calling application (e.g. 20 MB). Theprior art OS responds by allocating such a memory segment (ifavailable), where this memory segment is provided as series of blocks ofphysical pages, of a certain size as determined by the OS (e.g. 4 MB perpage). In a step 68204, a management area is allocated, where in thisarea there is one LOCK_FLAG for every physical page that is allocated inthe step 68202. Thus this memory size is equal to [MEMALLOCATED]/[SIZEOF(MEMORY_PAGE)]*[SIZEOF(INT)]. For example, on an OSwhere a page size is 4 KB, the memory allocated for the NDCACHE is 20MB, and an integer is 4 Bytes, the size for allocating a management areais =20 MB/4 KB*4 B=5 k*4 B=20 kB (for storing 5,000 flags of 4 byteseach).

The normal operation (read/write) of the NDCACHE in the fourthimplementation is similar to the earlier implementations, but where thememory for the NDCACHE is the series of memory pages allocated to theNDCACHE, and the LOCK_FLAG is not for the whole memory range allocatedto the NDCACHE, but for each of the pages in that memory range, and whenthe eviction algorithm needs to free memory for the OS, it can evict aportion of the memory ranges, freeing up the memory range and itscorresponding LOCK_FLAG from the management area.

FIG. 74 describes an improvement in the fourth method of implementationof an NDCACHE. The following are three problems with the fourth methodof implementation that may be improved:

1. When an NDCACHE that is smaller than the OS's memory page size(typically 4 kB) is requested, a full page (e.g. 4 kB) is allocated andthus there is waste in allocating more than is needed.

2. When an NDCACHE that is larger than the page size is requested, theallocation needs to be done in multiple parts (once for each page), thusdegrading performance and degrading the ease of use of the API.

3. The fourth implementation does not conform to the ‘malloc’/‘free’paradigm, which makes it more difficult to integrate in to existing andnew solutions

In this improvement, when a new NDCACHE is allocated, when allocatingthe pages in memory 69002 for the NDCACHE, a secondary management area69004 is allocated at the first page, such that it includes a pointer tothe first LOCK_FLAG in the management area 69006, and a counter of howmany pages are allocated to this NDCACHE (“N”) is maintained. Thus, whenallocating multiple pages for an NDCACHE, the secondary management area69004 includes all the information needed to use all pages and lockflags.

FIG. 75 is a flowchart of the initialization process for the improvementon the fourth method. In a step 69202 when the NDCACHE is requested bythe application, a memory range (P) is allocated for the NDCACHE. Itssize is the size of the memory requested+sizeof(T) where T is the arearequired for the secondary management area. Then in a step 69204 spaceis allocated for the management area to hold the LOCK_FLAGs for each ofthe memory pages required by the new NDCACHE. Then, a secondarymanagement area (T) is defined in a step 69206, and into it is inserteda pointer (T->PTR) to the management area and an integer (T->N) thatrepresents the number of pages in this NDCACHE's memory range. In a step69208 the pointer P is changed such that P=P+SIZEOF(T). This is so thatP now points to the start of the main memory range (right after thesecondary management area). Lastly, in a step 69210 the program returnsthe pointer (P+SIZEOF(T)) to the calling application, which is a pointerto the place in the memory where the NDCACHE memory itself starts (rightafter the secondary management section).

Note that the allocations for these memory ranges can use any of theexisting malloc/free implementation algorithms to allocate memory fromthe main NDCACHE pool to this allocation. The malloc and free can bedone over mmap with the implementation of NDCACHE shown in the fourthimplementation, which makes this a non-deterministic cache. Also notethat if the allocation is less than one page size, T->N could still spanmore than one page, if for example this page already contains part of aprevious allocation and this new allocation causes the allocation tooverrun to the next page.

FIG. 76 is a flowchart of the actions of reading from or writing to theNDCACHE for the improvement on the fourth method of implementation. In astep 69602, the read/write is described. The read/write is done in thesame way as in the fourth implementation with two exceptions:Lock(P)/unlock(P): First evaluates that T->N is not zero. If it is zero,then the NDCACHE was swapped and needs to return mem_not_found. If T->Nis not zero, lock all pages that this NDCACHE element spans by lockingthe N LOCK_FLAGS starting at the T->PTR LOCK_FLAG. When reading/writingfrom/to the NDCACHE, not limited to one page of memory (can use thecomplete allocated size). In a step 69606 the deleting of theallocation—NDCACHE_CLOSE(P)—is described. The NDCACHE is freed bycalling the OS free( ) function and providing to it the pointer of(P-SIZEOF(T)) where P is the pointer to the main memory range, and T isthe secondary management area, so that the memory freed is both thesecondary management area as well as the main memory area.

A further note about NDCACHE: There is an advantage to being able to usenamed objects for NDCACHE—i.e., for the NDCACHE objects to be named sothat they can be used by multiple processes, and also lets the virtualmemory related to these named objects to be freed on swap. This can beimplemented over the systems described previously by adding a hash tablewhere in the open/create of the object, this name is looked up in thehash table, and if found provides back a pointer to an existing object.

There are applications that may benefit from understanding when thecomputer's resources are idle. For example, a screensaver monitors themouse and keyboard movements for idleness, and after a preset amount ofidle time, it activates its display program. Further, the idling periodmay be utilized for performing non-time sensitive activities, such asupdating and maintenance. For example, idling is detected as part of the‘Idle?’ step 495 a in the flowchart 490 b. Other cases are for a website to monitor inactivity of a keyboard or mouse input, and to log outas a consequence.

FIG. 77 is a flowchart of an idle monitor that uses new inputs to defineidleness of a computing device or its operator. Such a flowchart may beexecuted by any network element herein. In a step 70002, an applicationwishes to be notified of when idleness has occurred, and so notifies theidle monitor program, provides a CallBack function (CB)—a function tocall when the idleness occurs—and defines the type of idleness on whichto call this function (PARAMS) and the duration of time they should beidle for the CB to be called. The program then scans in a step 70004‘idleness’ resources and tracks for how long each has been idle. Theseresources include the following: Bits being sent or received to/fromcommunication device—i.e. idleness of communication. Storage device reador write—i.e. idleness of the IO with storage devices. Temperaturechanges in any of the device's temperature gauges—i.e., idleness of theenvironment. Non-idleness of the environment could signal that there ismovement in the environment of this computing device, or that thetemperature around is shifting. CPU busy over certain threshold (couldbe 5% for example)—i.e. idleness to a degree of the computing resources.Camera senses motion—i.e. idleness of the physical surrounding of thecomputing device (movement of persons for example can trigger this tonot be idle)

Light sensor senses changes in light intensity or structure—i.e.,idleness of the physical surrounding of the computing device (movementof persons, for example, can trigger this to not be idle):

-   -   Accelerometer that senses movement or orientation change    -   HD accelerometer that senses movement    -   GPS sensor that senses movement

If any of the above sensors is idle in a step 70006, then check in astep 70008 whether all sensors included in PARAMS are idle and have beenidle for the amount of time as described in T. If they have all beenidle for this time, call the CB.

Hence, in a system monitoring the idleness of a computing device, thefollowing sensors may be included in a list of devices to be monitoredfor idleness: Bits being sent or received to/from communication device,storage device read or write, temperature changes in any of the device'stemperature gauges, CPU busy over certain threshold, camera sensesmotion, light sensor senses changes in light intensity or structure,Accelerometer that senses movement or orientation change, HDaccelerometer that senses movement, GPS sensor that senses movement inlocation or height

In storage devices with moving media, physical seek times are typicallylong relative to the read or write times because of the read/write headmovement, and thus should be avoided where possible. Also in storagedevices, writing to the storage device is typically less urgent asreading from it, since the writing is typically to archive existinginformation, whereas reading data is used for actionable results (suchas displaying data on the screen) and thus may be blocking.

In prior art systems, reading and writing occur randomly, and thus whenthe typically higher priority reading is occurring, it could possibly beafter a write has occurred, and thus the reading head is typically notclose to the place where the information should be read from. Delayingthe writing of data until storage device read/write is idle can speed upthe read time, since there's then no need to wait for write to endbefore reading and also eliminates many seek cycles.

FIG. 78 is a diagram of a system to reduce the read times from a storagedevice 71008. It includes the OS 71002, which calls the storage readtime reduction module 71004 when accessing the disk. This module usesthe storage device idle monitor 71006 to determine when the storagedevice is idle. When the storage read time reduction module 71004 wishesto write to disk, it first ensures that the disk has been idle for apre-determined amount of time (eg. 30 ms) before writing to the storagedevice. If the storage device is busy, it increases the chance thatwhile the OS is writing data to the disk, a disk read will occur, whichwill be slowed down by the read time and seek time back to the place toread from. Thus, with the system described by the diagram in FIG. 78,such conflicts (of having a read while a write is in action) arereduced. Thus, when the storage device idle monitor reportsnon-idleness, then the data to be written to the disk is written to thewrite queue 71010 instead of to the disk.

This concept may be broadened by looking not only at the idleness of thestorage device 71008 by the storage device idle monitor 71006, but byincorporating an idleness monitor that checks for a much broader set ofidleness parameters such as keyboard inputs, mouse inputs, networkcommunication, etc., since any kind of non-idleness on the computingdevice typically correlates to reads from the storage device, and thusstorage writes should be avoided during such periods of non-idleness.

Hence, in a computing system comprised of a storage device and aprocessor, a method for reducing the average time to read data from suchstorage device is disclosed, by which storage writes are only performedwhen the storage device has been idle for a certain amount of time (eg.30 ms). Other parameters may be checked for idleness, such as thekeyboard input, the mouse input, the network communication, etc.

FIG. 79 is a flowchart of an implementation of a storage read timereduction module SRTRM. If the SRTRM received a write command in a step71202 then it checks in a step 71204 whether the write queue has enoughfree space for queuing this request. If it does, then the request isqueued in a step 71206 until the storage device is idle at which time itwill be written to it. If the write queue does not have enough space toqueue the new write data, then the program writes in a step 71205 thenew request data to the storage device. If the SRTRM has not received awrite command, then it checks in a step 71208 whether the disk been idlefrom read commands for x milliseconds (x could be 30 for example).Alternatively or in addition, can use other parameters for idleness todetermine idleness for the purpose of writing, such as mouse movement,etc.). If idleness for x milliseconds is determined, then a segment ofthe write queue (e.g., 500 KB) is written from the queue to the storagedevice.

When a network element is connected to a WAP, it sometimes shortlydisconnects and then reconnects. This short disconnection (sometimesreferred to as ‘cutoff’) may occur due to an ‘explicit user disconnect’reason, where the user explicitly requests to disconnect from the WAP,such as due to poor service from the WAP, or because other reasons, suchas turning off the network element, and disconnecting from the network(for example by turning off the WiFi switch). When the network elementtries to re-connect to the WAP, it is typically preferred to first tryto connect to ‘favorite’ WAPs, which are commonly WAPs that the networkelement has already successfully previously connected to. In oneexample, a WAP is determined as a ‘favorite’ WAP when providing highsignal strength. FIG. 81 shows a prior art diagram of a network element41002 that is trying to connect to WAPs defined as part of a ‘favorite’group 42006. The network element 41002 may disconnect explicitly fromone of these ‘favorite’ devices 42006, for example due to poorconnection or otherwise poor service, and afterwards, when the networkelement 41002 software tries to re-connect to a WAP, it may try tore-connect again to that problematic WAP, resulting in again a poorservice. It is therefore beneficial to distinguish between ‘explicituser disconnect’ reasons and ‘other’ reasons associated with each WAP inthe favorite group 42006, and to first try to connect to the WAPsassociated with disconnection due to ‘other’ reasons.

FIG. 82 shows such a system, where the favorites group 41206 issubdivided to two sub-groups: an “explicit user disconnect” group 41220,which is the group of WAPs which the user chose to disconnect from, andan “other” group 41210, which is a group of the favorite WAPs (shown toinclude only a single WAP) that were disconnected due to ‘other’reasons, and a WAP will preferably and firstly be selected from thelatter group.

FIG. 83 shows a flowchart relating to implementing such a system. In astep 41402, it is checked if the client has just disconnected from aWAP, and then in a step 41404 a variable designated as last_dv is set tothe recently disconnected WAP. A proactive disconnection by the user,such as by user pressing ‘disconnect’, is checked in a step 41406. Apoor performance disconnection is checked in a step 41408, and as partof this step the WAP is checked to be not responding, or respondingslowly. In a case the WAP was found to be disconnected not because ofpoor performance, then the last_dv is set as “other” in a step 41410,and thus this WAP is highly prioritized, and will be first to beselected, followed by the rest of the “Other” WAPs, and the “explicituser disconnect” related WAPs are the last to be selected. If the WAPwas found to be disconnected due to poor performance, then the last_dvis marked as “explicit user disconnect” in a step 41412. FIG. 80 shows aflowchart of an algorithm that describes how network elements mayattempt to connect to multiple WAPs, allowing for a quick connection toa selected one of the WAPs. While exampled herein regarding connectionto a WAP, any other communication device, such as a switch, router, or agateway, using a wireless or wired connection, may be equally applied.

Typical connections (including data paths and communication links) via anetwork, and in particular via a packet-based network such as theInternet 113, are associated with a reliability that is less than 100%.The reliability is typically measured as the number of packets that donot reach their destination intact, but can also be measured by theirlatency, bandwidth, and other factors. FIG. 84 is a diagram of a commonarrangement, where a Network Element 1 (NE1) 25 communicates withanother Network Element 2 (NE2) 26, where there are only multipleunreliable connections available between the two elements. Typically, aconnection for fetching by the NE1 25 of a part of, or all of, a contentfrom the NE2 26, is established using only a single connection 24004,out of these available unreliable connections. For example, in a casewhere Voice over IP (VoIP) call is carried between the NE1 25 and theNE2 26 over one of these unreliable connections, that drops, forexample, 1% of the packets, then 1 out of every 100 packets of the callwill be lost, resulting in a low quality call. The other availableunreliable connections between the two network elements may be used toincrease the reliability, as shown schematically in FIGS. 85, 86, and87, illustrating the utilizing of additional connections for increasedconnection reliability.

FIG. 85 shows a using of the multiple unreliable connections 24204 forcommunication between the NE1 25 and the NE2 26, implemented by aspecial program that is installed on both the NE1 25 and the NE2 26.This program transmits each packet from the NE1 25 to the NE2 26, orvice versa, over two or more data routes. Thus, the resultedunreliability is decreased by a factor received by multiplying theunreliability of the routes, and the used bandwidth is increased by afactor corresponding to the number of routes used. In one example, 3(three) data routes are used, and assuming each data route reliability99% (i.e., 99 out of 100 packets typically reach their destinationintact) whereby the unreliability of a single connection is 1%, then theresulted unreliability of the new scheme is 1%(unreliability){circumflex over ( )}3 (number of routes)=0.0001%, andthe available bandwidth is triple the bandwidth available when using asingle data path. Multiple routes may be implemented by using a programthat uses available multiple network interfaces of the network elements,where packets are sent the packet over two or more of the availableinterfaces, or alternatively by using peer devices (such as the peerdevice #1 102 a and the peer device #2 102 b) as described herein or inthe '604 patent.

In one example, the program may be installed on only one of the networkelements. In such a scheme, a network element designated as areliability proxy may be used, on which the program is installed.Preferably, the reliability proxy may use multiple connections to theother network element. A scheme using a reliability proxy is shown inFIG. 86, used for communication between the NE1 25 and the NE2 26, andthe program is installed on the NE1 25 but not on the NE2 26. The NE1 25queries a reliability proxy network server 24301 and provides the serverthe identifier (e.g., IP address) of the NE2 26. The server 24301responds by providing the NE1 25 the identifier (e.g., IP address) of aReliability Proxy (RP) 24308 to be used. The RP 24308 is a networkelement on which the program is installed, and which has a connection24310 to NE2 26, which is preferably more reliable than the directconnection between the NE1 25 and the NE2 26. The NE1 25 thencommunicates with the RP 24308 via multiple routes 24306, and the RP24308 communicates with NE2 26 through the reliable connection 24310.Thus, the information is reliably carried over the routes 24306,providing a more reliable connection than the single route that may beused, since the original route 24004 is included in 24306, and usingadditional routes improves the reliability, and since route 24310 ismore reliable by selection, the total obtained reliability is higherthan a single direct connection between the two devices.

It is also possible to use this method in a configuration where neitherthe NE1 25 nor the NE2 26 includes the program installed, as shown inFIG. 87. In this scheme, the NE1 25 is manually configured to use thereliability proxy 24404 as a reliability proxy, and that reliabilityproxy then uses a reliability proxy network server 24401 to find areliability proxy 24406 that can be used to communicate with the NE2 26.

A flowchart of the program is shown in FIG. 88. The program is activatedin a step 24602 when the NE1 25 requests to communicate with the NE2 26.The program then checks in a step 24604 whether the existing directconnection between the two network elements is good enough, such as byusing the RTT and BW of the direct connection route. If the existingroute is good enough, then a direct communication is initiated in thestep 24606, as known in the art. However, if the existing route is notgood enough, then in a step 24622 the program checks whether the NE2 26has the program installed. The network elements on which the program isinstalled report to the server upon being online, and the server logsthis information in a reliability database This can be done by sending aquery to the NE2 26, so that if the program exists, the device soacknowledges, or by requesting such information from the reliabilityproxy network server by using the server reliability database. If theNE2 26 does have the program installed, then a direct communication isused between the NE1 25 and NE2 26, using multiple routes (as in FIG.85), as described in FIG. 89. If the NE2 26 does not have the programinstalled, then a request is sent in a step 24608 to the ReliabilityProxy Network Server (RPNS) for a proxy to use for the communication.The response received in a step 25610 from the RPNS provides anidentifier of a Reliability Proxy Device (RPD) that may use a data pathto the NE2 26 that is more reliable than a direct connection from theNE1 25 to the NE2 26, if such a path exists. The NE1 25 then sends in astep 24612 the information to the RPD via the multiple routes betweenthem as described in FIG. 89. If there is no such data path, then adirect communication is established, such as in the step 24606.

A method of transmitting packets in parallel over multiple routes,between the NE1 25 and the NE2 26, is described in FIG. 89. In a step24702 NE1 25 receives from a routing unit the number of routes availableto the NE2 26, and the reliability associated with each one of theroutes. In a step 24704, the routes to be uses are selected as follows:A Desired Reliability (DR) is first set, and the available routes areranked based on their reliability, where the highest reliability islisted first as Route #1, assuming to be associated with a reliabilityof R1, the second reliable route is listed second as Route #2, assumingto be associated with a reliability of R2, and so on, until the lessreliable route is Route #N with an associated reliability of the RN. Theroutes to use are determined by multiplying (1−R1)*(1−R2)*(1−R3) . . . ,until the product is lower than DR. Note that (1−Rn) is the“unreliability” of a route n whose reliability is Rn, and thus theproduct of the ‘unreliability’ of the routes is the un-reliability ofthe parallel use of the multiple routes, assuming that the routes R1,R2, . . . Rx are used for this particular communication between the NE125 and the NE2 26. During the communication session between the NE1 25and the NE2 26, each packet to be transmitted is carried in a step 24706over all the selected routes. On the receiving side, each unique packetreceived is passed in a step 24708 to the application, and other similarpackets received from the other routes are discarded. In the case of amissing packet over the fastest connection, that packet is expected tobe received via the second fastest connection.

In addition to packet loss, unreliable connections typically frequentlydisconnect. In such a case, the communicating devices try to reconnect,and often succeed. However, such a disconnection may creatediscontinuity that may be detected by the communicating applications,and may impact their performance, such as a producing a “404 page notfound” message in a web browser. However, if the disconnection is notdetected by the applications until the re-connection is established, thediscontinuity could be avoided. Thus, it is desirable to delay for ashort time the signaling to the applications, until the connection isre-established, as described in a flowchart in FIG. 90.

In a step 24802 the NE1 25 initiates a communication with other networkelement, such as the NE2 26. The connection from the NE1 25 to the NE226 is established in a step 24804 through a Reliability Proxy program(RP) in each of the NE1 25 and the NE2 26 (if such an RP exists). If theRP does not exist in the NE1 25, then it can be configured to use anexternal device as a Reliability Proxy (RP). If the RP does not exist inthe NE2 26, then the NE1 25 requests an RP from the reliability proxynetwork server, and communicates with it, instead of communicatingdirectly with the NE2 26, where the RP will proxy the messages to theNE2 26 so that effectively the NE1 25 is communicating with the NE2 26.

The connection between the RPs may be disconnected as determined in astep 24810 (whether the RPs are within the NE1 25 and the NE2 26, orexternal to them). If the connection was disconnected, then in a step24812 the reliability proxies hold the connection between them and theoperating system that they are acting as a proxy for, for a set shortamount of time that it would take to re-connect the broken connection ina reasonable scenario (e.g., 200 ms). Holding the connection may beperformed in a way similar to the virtual application gateway describedin FIG. 51. During the period that the connection to the operatingsystem is held, the RPs try to reconnect with each other in a step24814. If the re-connection succeeds within the set time, thencommunication resumes without a break from the operating systemperspective. However, if the re-connection did not succeed in the setamount of time, then the OS is notified of the disconnection.

The systems and methods herein may use redundant communication routes(or data paths), that may be based on standby redundancy, (a.k.a. BackupRedundancy), where one of the data paths or the associated hardware isconsidered as a primary unit, and the other data path (or the associatedhardware) is considered as the secondary unit, serving as back up to theprimary unit. The secondary unit typically does not monitor the system,but is there just as a spare. The standby unit is not usually kept insync with the primary unit, so it must reconcile its input and outputsignals on the takeover of the communication. This approach does lenditself to give a “bump” on transfer, meaning the secondary operation maynot be coordinated with the last system state of the primary unit. Suchmechanism may require a watchdog, which monitors the system to decidewhen a switchover condition is met, and command the system to switchcontrol to the standby unit. Standby redundancy configurations commonlyemploy two basic types, namely ‘Cold Standby’ and ‘Hot Standby’.

In a cold standby scheme, the secondary unit is either powered off orotherwise non-active in the system operation, thus preserving thereliability of the unit. The drawback of this design is that thedowntime is greater than in hot standby, because the standby unit needsto be powered up or activated, and brought online into a known state.

In a hot standby scheme, the secondary unit is powered up or otherwisekept operational, and can optionally monitor the system. The secondaryunit may serve as the watchdog and/or voter to decide when to switchover, thus eliminating the need for an additional hardware for this job.This design does not preserve the reliability of the standby unit aswell as the cold standby design. However, it shortens the downtime,which in turn increases the availability of the system. Some flavors ofHot Standby are similar to Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR) or ParallelRedundancy. The main difference between Hot Standby and DMR is howtightly the primary and the secondary are synchronized. DMR completelysynchronizes the primary and secondary units.

While a redundancy of two was exampled above, where two data paths andtwo hardware devices were used, a redundancy involving three or moredata paths or systems may be equally used. The term ‘N’ ModularRedundancy, (a.k.a. Parallel Redundancy) refers to the approach ofhaving multiply units or data paths running in parallel. All units arehighly synchronized and receive the same input information at the sametime. Their output values are then compared and a voter decides whichoutput values should be used. This model easily provides bumplessswitchovers. This model typically has faster switchover times than HotStandby models, thus the system availability is very high, but becauseall the units are powered up and actively engaged with the systemoperation, the system is at more risk of encountering a common modefailure across all the units.

Deciding which unit is correct can be challenging if only two units areused. If more than two units are used, the problem is simpler, usuallythe majority wins or the two that agree win. In N Modular Redundancy,there are three main typologies: Dual Modular Redundancy, Triple ModularRedundancy, and Quadruple Redundancy. The Quadruple Modular Redundancy(QMR) is fundamentally similar to the TMR but using four units insteadof three to increase the reliability. The obvious drawback is the 4×increase in system cost.

Dual Modular Redundancy (DMR) uses two functional equivalent units, thuseither can control or support the system operation. The most challengingaspect of DMR is determining when to switch over to the secondary unit.Because both units are monitoring the application, a mechanism is neededto decide what to do if they disagree. Either a tiebreaker vote orsimply the secondary unit may be designated as the default winner,assuming it is more trustworthy than the primary unit. Triple ModularRedundancy (TMR) uses three functionally equivalent units to provide aredundant backup. This approach is very common in aerospace applicationswhere the cost of failure is extremely high. TMR is more reliable thanDMR due to two main aspects. The most obvious reason is that two“standby” units are used instead of just one. The other reason is thatin a technique called diversity platforms or diversity programming maybe applied. In this technique, different software or hardware platformsare used on the redundant systems to prevent common mode failure. Thevoter decides which unit will actively control the application. WithTMR, the decision of which system to trust is made democratically andthe majority rules. If three different answers are obtained, the votermust decide which system to trust or shut down the entire system, thusthe switchover decision is straightforward and fast.

Another redundancy topology is 1:N Redundancy, where a single backup isused for multiple systems, and this backup is able to function in theplace of any single one of the active systems. This technique offersredundancy at a much lower cost than the other models by using onestandby unit for several primary units. This approach only works wellwhen the primary units all have very similar functions, thus allowingthe standby to back up any of the primary units if one of them fails.While the redundant data paths have been exampled with regard to theadded reliability and availability, redundant data paths may as well beused in order to provide higher aggregated data rate, allowing forfaster response and faster transfer of data over the multiple datapaths.

A client device may connect to one of multiple sources for fetching datatherefrom. The client device may estimate in advance the Bandwidth (BW)and Round Trip Time (RTT) relating to a connection to each of thesources, in order to estimate the best source to use. Further, a clientdevice may use several available peer devices for loading chunkstherefrom. A chunk may, include, for example, 16 KB of data. Assumingthat there are two peers devices, designated as P1 and P2, respectivelyassociated with the following BW/RTT times: P1_BW=2,000 Kb/s P1_RTT=30ms and P2_BW=4,000 Kb/s P2_RTT=70 ms, then the estimated time for atransaction using P1 would be 30 ms+16,000*8/2,000,000=30 ms+64 ms=94ms, whereas a transaction using P2 would be 60 ms+16,000*8/4,000,000=70ms+32 ms=102 ms. In such a case, it would be beneficial for the clientdevice to select and use P1. Other examples of such networks include anHTTP client that may access two different web servers for obtaining acertain URL, such as the original web server, and a CDN storing the URLcontent. However, the client device may not have previously (or lately)communicated with a source, and thus may not possess the BW and the RTTdata needed for the evaluation. In such a case, it would be beneficialto have an algorithm for estimating BT/RTT with the source.

FIG. 91 shows a network that includes a client device 2 and fouravailable sources 20802, 20804, 20806, and 20808, as well as a database20810 in the client device 2 that keeps track of the IPs, BW and RTTs ofthe various sources that were previously communicated with. Thisdatabase 20810 may also include the time of the last connection, as wellas other data. The database 20810 may sort the sources according totheir respective IPs, such that if a source_1 is shown in the table(representing the database 20810) in a column that is left to a source_2related column, then necessarily the IP of source_1 is smaller than theIP of source_2.

In the example shown in FIG. 91, the Client 2 has previously connectedwith the source_1 20802 and with the source_4 20808, and hence stores inthe database 20810 the BW and RTT for these two sources. The Client 2may require evaluating the BW and RTT to source_2 20804, in order todetermine whether to use it, or to seek for an alternative source (ornot to communicate at all).

In such a case, the client needs to assess the BW and RTT of thesource_2. A good estimation (or a guess) may assume that the values ofthe BW and RTT of the source_2 are between the values of BW and RTT ofsource_1 and source_4, which are the sources of either side of thesource_2 (in terms of IP address), based on the information stored inthe database 20810. The estimated values of the source_2 related BW andRTT might be derived in various ways. For example, using proportionalestimation, so that when the BW and RTT of source_1 are respectively BW1and RTT1, for source_4 they are respectively BW4 and RTT4, and forsource_2 they are respectively BW2 and RTT2, then BW2 and RTT2 can becalculated by their relative IP distance from BW1 and BW4 and betweenRTT1 and RTT4. Other ways to calculate can be a regular average, such asBW2=(BW1+BW4)/2.

Alternatively or in addition, the database 20810 may reside on a serveron the network, and thus a client device may request and fetch therefrominformation about connecting to various sources, even those that it hasnot previously or lately connected with, based on connections with otherclient devices that have communicated with it and logged their resultsto this networked database.

FIG. 92 shows a flowchart for estimating a source related BW and RTT. Ina step 21002, the client device is maintaining a database 20810 ofnetwork elements that it has communicated with, where for each of thesenetwork elements the associated BW and RTT of the connection, andoptionally the time of a connection for each, is stored. In the database20810, the network elements are sorted by their IP distance from theclient device, where the IP distance is the difference between the IP ofthe source and the IP of the client. The client device is requesting ina step 21004 to communicate with a source (source_x), and thus firstassesses the BW and RTT that relates to the source_x. In a step 21012,it is checked whether relevant information about the BW and RTT tosource_x already exists in the database 20810. It is noted that thisdatabase may be local—in the client device, or available via a networkand thus accessible by multiple clients. If the source_x entry exists inthe database, then these stored values of the BW and the RTT are assumedfor the source_x. If not, then the client gets information from thedatabase about the BW and RTT for the two sources that are associatedwith IP addresses on either side, such as a lower one and a higher one,of the source_x (in terms of IP distance). The client device uses thesetwo data points to assess the BW and RTT, using any of a variety ofmethods, such as using a regular average or a weighted average.

A large database may be used to store data relating to the connectionscharacteristics (such as BW and RTT) to various network elements. Overtime this data accumulates, and may be reduced by storing only valuableinformation, as shown in a flowchart FIG. 93, describing a method forstoring only the data pertaining to certain network elements, which areindicative of other network elements in their vicinity.

The system initializes in a step 21202, when the system starts for thefirst time, before the database is initialized. As part of aninitialization process, a database is created, with entries that signifylogarithmic IP distances from the local network element. Thus, a firstentry will be for an IP_dist=1, a second for an IP_dist=2, a third foran IP_dist=4, a fourth for an IP_dist=8, etc., until the farthest IPdistance possible in the network that the local network element isoperating in (for an IPv4 network example, the smallest IP address is0.0.0.0 and the largest address is 255.255.255.255, the largest IPdistance is half of the difference between these two addresses).

In a step 21204, it is checked whether the database is accessed forreading or writing. The database is accessed for reading when a programrequests the estimated BW & RTT between the local network element(associated with IP that is designated as a HOST_IP), and a certainnetwork element to which this local network element is considering tocommunicate with (associated with IP that is designated as IP_NEW). Thedatabase is accessed for writing when the local network element hascompleted a communication session to another network element, orotherwise found out information about the BW & RTT to that networkelement in other ways, and requests to write the newly learned data(NEW_BW, NEW_RTT) to the database so that the system can make laterbetter assessments of the BW & RTT.

Next, the IP distance (IP_DISTANCE) is calculated in a step 21206between the HOST_IP to the IP_NEW by finding the number of IPs that arebetween the HOST_IP and the IP_NEW. Note that in the case of using IPdistance, this method considers that the IP addresses are ‘connected atthe edges’, meaning that the first address (0.0.0.0 in IPv4) is 1 IPaddress away from the last address (255.255.255.255 in IPv4), and thusthere are two different IP distances between each 2 points. TheIP_DISTANCE is calculated as the minimum between these two distances. Ina step 21208, the logarithmic distance (DIST) from HOST_IP to the NEW_IPis calculated. The DIST is calculated as theRound_down(log_b2(IP_DISTANCE)—where the rounding down the log (in base2) of the IP_DISTANCE between HOST_IP and IP_NEW. If the database actionwas for a READ action, then in a step 21212 the BW & RTT are read fromthe entry [DIST] of the database. If the database action was for a WRITEaction, then in a step 21214 the NEW_BW & NEW_RTT are written to theentry [DIST]. Note that the NEW_BW & NEW_RTT may also be written to thedatabase in other methods, in order to keep track also of historicaldata. For example, the NEW_BW & NEW_RTT may be averaged in with theother data samples (by keeping the latest average and the number ofsamples in the database), or in any other similar methods.

When network elements use BW & RTT values from the tables, they couldbenefit from ‘teaching’ each other about the information they alreadyhave about BW & RTT between them and other network elements. FIG. 94 isa flowchart showing a method where network elements can share BW & RTTinformation so that a network element that wishes to communicate with anetwork element that it has not recently communicate with, may assessthe BW & RTT to it by learning from the experience of other networkelements that have recently communicated with that network element. Themethod starts with scheduling an update of other network elements in astep 21404. The scheduling can be set to either happen at constant timeintervals, when the local host is idle, when both the local host andother network element to be updated are idle, or when finishedcommunicating with other network element. If the scheduled event ofupdating other network elements with the table from the local networkelement, then a list is created in a step 21408 of which of the networkelements to update. This can be all the network elements that have beenrecently communicated with, or a central server that will be updated andupdate other network elements, or by getting a list from such a centralserver. The BW & RTT of this local host are then communicated to theelements in this list.

In a step 21410 the local host receives a BW & RTT table (UPDATE_DB)from a different network element associated with an IP that isIP_ELEMENT. Then, for each non-empty entry in the UPDATE_DB (entrymarked as ‘E’), the following set of actions is performed: First, in astep 21414 the IP of the network element that provided the UPDATE_DB(IP_ELEMENT) is looked up in the local network element database, and theresulting BW and RTT are stored in memory as BW_ELEMENT and RTT_ELEMENT(these are the BW and RTT between the local network element and thenetwork element that is providing the UPDATE_DB). Then, in a step 21416,the BW & RTT in entry ‘E’ are stored in memory as BW_E and RTT_E. In astep 21418, the IP distance from the network element to the ‘E’associated IP is calculated and stored in the data base as IP_DIST_E. Ina step 21420, the local database entry for the IP distance of(IP_ELEMENT_DIST+IP_DIST_E) is updated where the BW value receives thevalue of BW_HOST+BW_E and the RTT value receives the value ofRTT_HOST+RTT_E.

The term ‘network element’ (or ‘element’) is used herein to include, butnot limited to, a tunnel-based client device (such as the client device#1 31 a), a tunnel-based acceleration server (such as the accelerationserver 32), a tunnel device (such as the tunnel device #1 33 a), apeer-based client device (such as the client device #1 31 a), an agentdevice (such as the agent device #1 103 a), a peer device (such as thepeer device #1 102 a), a peer-based acceleration server (such as theacceleration server 202), or a data server (such as the data server #122 a). The terms ‘chunk’ and ‘slice’ are interchangeably used herein toinclude, but not limited to, a part of, or the entire of, a content. Anymemory, storage, database, or cache mentioned herein may consist of,comprise, use, or be included in, the local cache as described in U.S.Pat. No. 8,135,912 to the Shribman et al., entitled: “System and Methodof Increasing Cache Size”.

The steps described herein may be sequential, and performed in thedescribed order. For example, in a case where a step is performed inresponse to another step, or upon completion of another step, the stepsare executed one after the other. However, in case where two or moresteps are not explicitly described as being sequentially executed, thesesteps may be executed in any order, or may be simultaneously performed.Two or more steps may be executed by two different network elements, orin the same network element, and may be executed in parallel usingmultiprocessing or multitasking.

A tangible machine-readable medium (such as a storage) may have a set ofinstructions detailing part (or all) of the methods and steps describedherein stored thereon, so that when executed by one or more processors,may cause the one or more processors to perform part of, or all of, themethods and steps described herein. Any of the network elements may be acomputing device that comprises a processor and a computer-readablememory (or any other tangible machine-readable medium), and thecomputer-readable memory may comprise computer-readable instructionssuch that, when read by the processor, the instructions causes theprocessor to perform the one or more of the methods or steps describedherein.

Any device or network element herein may comprise, consists of, orinclude a Personal Computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer,a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a servercomputer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, a Personal DigitalAssistant (PDA) device, a cellular handset, a handheld PDA device, anon-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehiculardevice, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, anon-mobile or a non-portable device. Further, any device or networkelement herein may comprise, consist of, or include a major appliance(white goods) and may be an air conditioner, dishwasher, clothes dryer,drying cabinet, freezer, refrigerator, kitchen stove, water heater,washing machine, trash compactor, microwave oven and induction cooker.The appliance may similarly be a ‘small’ appliance such as TV set, CD orDVD player, camcorder, still camera, clock, alarm clock, video gameconsole, HiFi or home cinema, telephone or answering machine.

The term ‘host’ or ‘network host’ is used herein to include, but notlimited to, a computer or other device connected to a computer network,such as the Internet. A network host may offer information resources,services, and applications to users or other nodes on the network, andis typically assigned a network layer host address. Computersparticipating in networks that use the Internet Protocol Suite may alsobe called IP hosts, and computers participating in the Internet arecalled Internet hosts, or Internet nodes. Internet hosts and other IPhosts have one or more IP addresses assigned to their networkinterfaces. The addresses are configured either manually by anadministrator, automatically at start-up by means of the Dynamic HostConfiguration Protocol (DHCP), or by stateless address autoconfigurationmethods. Network hosts that participate in applications that use theclient-server model of computing, are classified as server or clientsystems. Network hosts may also function as nodes in peer-to-peerapplications, in which all nodes share and consume resources in anequipotent manner.

The arrangements and methods described herein may be implemented usinghardware, software or a combination of both. The term “softwareintegration” or any other reference to the integration of two programsor processes herein, is used herein to include, but not limited to,software components (e.g., programs, modules, functions, processes,etc.) that are (directly or via another component) combined, working orfunctioning together or form a whole, commonly for sharing a commonpurpose or set of objectives. Such software integration can take theform of sharing the same program code, exchanging data, being managed bythe same manager program, executed by the same processor, stored on thesame medium, sharing the same GUI or other user interface, sharingperipheral hardware (such as a monitor, printer, keyboard and memory),sharing data or a database, or being part of a single package. The term“hardware integration” or integration of hardware components is usedherein to include, but not limited to, hardware components that are(directly or via another component) combined, working or functioningtogether or form a whole, commonly for sharing a common purpose or setof objectives. Such hardware integration can take the form of sharingthe same power source (or power supply) or sharing other resources,exchanging data or control (e.g., by communicating), being managed bythe same manager, physically connected or attached, sharing peripheralhardware connection (such as a monitor, printer, keyboard and memory),being part of a single package or mounted in a single enclosure (or anyother physical collocating), sharing a communication port, or used orcontrolled with the same software or hardware. The term “integration”herein is used herein to include as applicable, but not limited to, asoftware integration, a hardware integration, or any combinationthereof.

Any networking protocol may be utilized for exchanging informationbetween the network elements (e.g., clients, tunnels, peers, servers)within the network (such as the Internet). For example, it iscontemplated that communications can be performed using TCP/IP.Generally, HTTP and HTTPS are utilized on top of TCP/IP as the messagetransport envelope. These two protocols are able to deal with firewalltechnology better than other message management techniques. However,partners may choose to use a message-queuing system instead of HTTP andHTTPS if greater communications reliability is needed. A non-limitingexample of a message queuing system is IBM's MQ-Series or the MicrosoftMessage Queue (MSMQ). The system described hereinafter is suited forboth HTTP/HTTPS, message-queuing systems, and other communicationstransport protocol technologies. Furthermore, depending on the differingbusiness and technical requirements of the various partners within thenetwork, the physical network may embrace and utilize multiplecommunication protocol technologies.

The term “port” refers to a place of access to a device, electricalcircuit or network, where energy or signal may be supplied or withdrawn.The term “interface” of a networked device refers to a physicalinterface, a logical interface (e.g., a portion of a physical interfaceor sometimes referred to in the industry as a sub-interface—for example,such as, but not limited to a particular VLAN associated with a networkinterface), and/or a virtual interface (e.g., traffic grouped togetherbased on some characteristic—for example, such as, but not limited to, atunnel interface). As used herein, the term “independent” relating totwo (or more) elements, processes, or functionalities, refers to ascenario where one does not affect nor preclude the other. For example,independent communication such as over a pair of independent data routesmeans that communication over one data route does not affect norpreclude the communication over the other data routes.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices,network elements, and systems, for example, a Personal Computer (PC), adesktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebookcomputer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, ahandheld device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a cellularhandset, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device,a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile orportable device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wirelesscommunication station, a wireless communication device, a wirelessAccess Point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wirelessmodem, a wired or wireless network, a Local Area Network (LAN), aWireless LAN (WLAN), a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), a Wireless MAN(WMAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Wireless WAN (WWAN), a PersonalArea Network (PAN), a Wireless PAN (WPAN), devices and/or networksoperating substantially in accordance with existing IEEE 802.11,802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11k, 802.11n, 802.11r, 802.16, 802.16d,802.16e, 802.20, 802.21 standards and/or future versions and/orderivatives of the above standards, units and/or devices which are partof the above networks, one way and/or two-way radio communicationsystems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, a cellulartelephone, a wireless telephone, a Personal Communication Systems (PCS)device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device,a mobile or portable Global Positioning System (GPS) device, a devicewhich incorporates a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device whichincorporates an RFID element or chip, a Multiple Input Multiple Output(MIMO) transceiver or device, a Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO)transceiver or device, a Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) transceiveror device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or externalantennas, Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) devices or systems,multi-standard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handhelddevice (e.g., BlackBerry, Palm Treo), a Wireless Application Protocol(WAP) device, or the like.

As used herein, the terms “program”, “programmable”, and “computerprogram” are meant to include any sequence or human or machinecognizable steps which perform a function. Such programs are notinherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus, andmay be rendered in virtually any programming language or environmentincluding, for example, C/C++, Fortran, COBOL, PASCAL, assemblylanguage, markup languages (e.g., HTML, SGML, XML, VoXML), and thelikes, as well as object-oriented environments such as the Common ObjectRequest Broker Architecture (CORBA), Java™ (including J2ME, Java Beans,etc.) and the likes, as well as in firmware or other implementations.Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc., that performs particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types. The term “application program”(also referred to as ‘application’, ‘software application’, or‘application software’) is used herein to include, but not limited to, acomputer program designed to perform a specific function directly for auser, or for another application program. Application software istypically a set of one or more programs designed to carry out operationsfor a specific application. Commonly, an application software isdependent on system software that manages and integrates computercapabilities, but does not directly perform tasks that benefit the user,such as an operating system, to execute. Examples of types ofapplication software may include accounting software, media players, andoffice suites. Applications may be bundled with the computer and itssystem software, or may be published separately, and further may bedeveloped and coded as a proprietary, or as an open-source, software.Most applications are designed to help people perform an activity.

The terms “task” and “process” are used generically herein to describeany type of running programs, including, but not limited to a computerprocess, task, thread, executing application, operating system, userprocess, device driver, native code, machine or other language, etc.,and can be interactive and/or non-interactive, executing locally and/orremotely, executing in foreground and/or background, executing in theuser and/or operating system address spaces, a routine of a libraryand/or standalone application, and is not limited to any particularmemory partitioning technique. The steps, connections, and processing ofsignals and information illustrated in the figures, including, but notlimited to any block and flow diagrams and message sequence charts, maytypically be performed in the same or in a different serial or parallelordering and/or by different components and/or processes, threads, etc.,and/or over different connections and be combined with other functionsin other embodiments, unless this disables the embodiment or a sequenceis explicitly or implicitly required (e.g., for a sequence of readingthe value, processing the value—the value must be obtained prior toprocessing it, although some of the associated processing may beperformed prior to, concurrently with, and/or after the read operation).Where certain process steps are described in a particular order or wherealphabetic and/or alphanumeric labels are used to identify certainsteps, the embodiments are not limited to any particular order ofcarrying out such steps. In particular, the labels are used merely forconvenient identification of steps, and are not intended to imply,specify or require a particular order for carrying out such steps.Furthermore, other embodiments may use more or less steps than thosediscussed herein. They may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans plus function elements in the claims below are intended to includeany structure, or material, for performing the function in combinationwith other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description ofthe present invention has been presented for purposes of illustrationand description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to theinvention in the form disclosed. The present invention should not beconsidered limited to the particular embodiments described above, butrather should be understood to cover all aspects of the invention asfairly set out in the attached claims. Various modifications, equivalentprocesses, as well as numerous structures to which the present inventionmay be applicable, will be readily apparent to those skilled in the artto which the present invention is directed upon review of the presentdisclosure.

All publications, standards, patents, and patent applications cited inthis specification are incorporated herein by reference as if eachindividual publication, patent, or patent application were specificallyand individually indicated to be incorporated by reference and set forthin its entirety herein.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for fetching over the Internet afirst content identified by a first content identifier from a first webserver, and for fetching over the Internet a second content identifiedby a second content identifier from a second web server that is distinctfrom the first web server, using a first server and a householdappliance, the method comprising: initiating, by the appliance,communication with the first server in response to a powering up;receiving, by the appliance, the first content identifier from the firstserver; sending, by the appliance, the first content identifier to thefirst web server; receiving, by the appliance, the first content fromthe first web server in response to the sending of the first contentidentifier; sending, by the appliance, the received first content to thefirst server; receiving, by the appliance, the second content identifierfrom the first server; sending, by the appliance, the second contentidentifier to the second web server; receiving, by the appliance, thesecond content from the second web server in response to the sending ofthe second content identifier; and sending, by the appliance, thereceived second content to the first server.
 2. The method according toclaim 1, further comprising sending a physical geographical location tothe first server.
 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein thephysical geographical location corresponds to the actual physicalgeographical location of the appliance.
 4. The method according to claim2, wherein the physical geographical location includes at least one outof a continent, a country, a state or province, a city, a street, a ZIPcode, or longitude and latitude.
 5. The method according to claim 1,wherein the steps are sequentially executed.
 6. The method according toclaim 1, wherein each of the identifiers is an IP address or a URL. 7.The method according to claim 6, wherein each of the IP addresses is inIPv4 or IPv6 form.
 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the firstweb server uses HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and responds to HTTPrequests via the Internet, or wherein the first web server usesHyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) and responds to HTTPSrequests via the Internet.
 9. The method according to claim 8, whereinthe sending of the first content identifier to the first web servercomprises a HTTP or HTTPS request.
 10. The method according to claim 1,wherein the communication with the first server or the first web serveris based on, or uses, HTTP or HTTPS persistent connection.
 11. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the communication by the appliancewith the first server is based on, or is according to, TCP/IP protocolor connection.
 12. The method according to claim 11, further comprisingestablishing a connection with the first server, and wherein thecommunication with the first server is over the established connection.13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the communicating with thefirst server uses TCP, and wherein the connection is established byperforming ‘Active OPEN’ or ‘Passive OPEN’.
 14. The method according toclaim 12, wherein the communication by the appliance with the firstserver is based on, or is according to, a Virtual Private Network (VPN).15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the established connectionis using a tunneling protocol.
 16. The method according to claim 1,wherein the first content includes, consists of, or comprises, a part orwhole of files, text, numbers, audio, voice, multimedia, video, images,music, or computer program.
 17. The method according to claim 1, whereinthe first content includes, consists of, or comprises, a part of, or awhole of, a web-site page.
 18. The method according to claim 1, whereinthe appliance is further storing, operating, or using, a clientoperating system.
 19. The method according to claim 18, wherein theclient operating system consists of, comprises, or is based on, one outof Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 8,Microsoft Windows 8.1, Linux, and Google Chrome OS.
 20. The methodaccording to claim 18, wherein the client operating system consists of,comprise, or is based on, one out of Android version 2.2 (Froyo),Android version 2.3 (Gingerbread), Android version 4.0 (Ice CreamSandwich), Android Version 4.2 (Jelly Bean), Android version 4.4(KitKat), Apple iOS version 3, Apple iOS version 4, Apple iOS version 5,Apple iOS version 6, Apple iOS version 7, Microsoft Windows® Phoneversion 7, Microsoft Windows® Phone version 8, Microsoft Windows® Phoneversion 9, and Blackberry® operating system.
 21. The method according toclaim 18, wherein the client operating system consists of, comprise, oris based on, one out of Android TV, Android Auto, or Android Wear. 22.The method according to claim 1, further comprising executing anapplication.
 23. The method according to claim 22, wherein theapplication comprises a web browser.
 24. The method according to claim23, wherein the web browser consists of, comprises of, or based on,Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera™, or Mozilla Firefox®.25. The method according to claim 23, wherein the web browser is amobile web browser.
 26. The method according to claim 25, wherein themobile web browser consists of, comprises of, or based on, Safari, OperaMini™, or Android web browser.
 27. The method according to claim 1,wherein the appliance comprises, consists of, or includes, a majorappliance that is an air conditioner, a dishwasher, a clothes dryer, adrying cabinet, a kitchen stove, a water heater, a washing machine, atrash compactor, a microwave oven, or an induction cooker.
 28. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the appliance comprises, consistsof, or includes, a major appliance that is a freezer or a refrigerator.29. The method according to claim 1, wherein the appliance comprises,consists of, or includes, a small appliance that is a television (TV)set.
 30. The method according to claim 1, wherein the appliancecomprises, consists of, or includes, a small appliance that is a CD orDVD player, a camcorder, a still camera, a clock, an alarm clock, avideo game console, a HiFi or home cinema, a telephone, or an answeringmachine.